20 Questions
by ShanghaiLily
Summary: Just after New Year's day in 1980, Jackie Burkhart decides to disappear from the basement to save her sanity. When Xmas rolls around and the Formans beg Jackie to attend their party, she ends up involved in an elaborate game of 20 Questions with Hyde that could change both of their lives. T-rated w/ some M chapters. Story is COMPLETE! This one's for the Zennies who hate Season 8!
1. Chapter 1

**I know it's a shock to everybody, but I don't own That 70's Show. Glad we cleared that up.**

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**Chapter 1**

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Jackie shuffles her feet as she walks the stretch of road between her apartment and the Forman residence. Quite a bit of snow fell a few days earlier, so it's tightly packed by now in lots of places and somewhat treacherous. She crunches along like a good little soldier, backpack perched on her shoulders with her fancy shoes tied to the straps.

.

The walk doesn't bother Jackie though. A year ago she would have stuck her nose up at trudging a few miles in the snow, but nowadays she can see the beauty in doing something like this. Walking is peaceful and helps her sort out her thoughts without the distraction of other people.

.

Being alone used to be a recurrent nightmare for her, but now it's what she craves the most. Having crappy people around you will do that. Jackie learned the hard way that it's actually better to be alone than with people who try to bring you down.

.

Since she stopped coming by the basement about a year ago, she's felt lighter. All of the things she thought were important to her really didn't seem that big once she got some distance from them. This freed her up from a lot of other bullshit. Once she didn't have anybody around to judge her, she also had nobody around to impress. All of her artifice melted, and she stopped caring so much about her appearance, preferring to let her great natural beauty show through. That's not to say she didn't stop grooming or anything, she just shifted her focus from her outer layer to her inner one. Amazing the kind of clarity you can get when you're left alone.

.

Starting over was scary as hell though, but she pulled up her bootstraps and marched on.

.

Nowadays, she spends most of her time doing solitary pursuits. She jogs, writes in her journal, designs and makes clothes, works and basically keeps herself to herself. She doesn't have too many friends and she doesn't want them.

.

Christmas is a different matter though. It's always been a hard holiday for her, and she vowed to never spend it alone. Since Kitty and Red are just about the only people left on earth who care about her, she has no choice but to go there and subject herself to the onslaught of accusations and questions from her former friends that she'll inevitably have to weather.

.

"What the hell am I doing?" she screams in her head. WHY?

.

As Jackie turns the corner of the street the Formans live on she stops short and bears the brunt of a small panic attack. Though she was fine on the walk, Jackie suddenly feels the chill of Winter echo through her bones. Her face feels whipped by the wind and her ears start to ring. She wonders if she feels well enough to attend this party after all.

.

"You're fine" she tells herself as she pushes herself forward. She made a promise to Kitty and Red and she's not about to break it, so she'll put on her party face and make nice with the others. It might be easier this time, she muses. She's been such a recluse lately that people really have no idea what she's been up to. She's an enigma to them, so she can basically tell them anything she wants. It makes her chuckle, because the absolute last person they'd expect to be enigma is Jackie. Tonight, however, she's going to be The fucking Riddler.

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The petite brunette takes a deep breath and raps her knuckles lightly on the sliding glass door near the kitchen. Kitty, who is pulling a tray of mince pies from the oven, notices her immediately and excitedly runs to the door employing her characteristic wiggle.

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"Jackie!" she shouts in her face as she envelopes the girl in her arms. "Oh my lord, you're a popsicle" she cries. "Can I get you some hot cider to warm you up?"

.

"Thank you" she smiles warmly as she takes in the room. Nothing has changed, barely even a magnet has moved on the fridge. There is something comforting about this to her, since she's never had stasis in her own life.

.

Jackie plops down on a kitchen chair and removes her boots in favor of her 3" Mary Janes. She places the wet boots on the mat and makes her way over to Kitty who is ladling some cider for her from the pot on the range. Jackie melodramatically warms her hands up on the stove, sending Kitty into a giggle fit.

.

Kitty slips her arm around Jackie's tiny waist and pulls her close. "We really missed you, honey" she says sweetly. "Things just haven't been the same since you stopped coming by".

.

"I just couldn't do it anymore, you know?" Jackie whispers, aware that the house is filled with people.

.

Kitty gives her a melancholy nod and hands her the warm mug.

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"Thanks" she smiles and takes a sip, slightly burning the top of her mouth. "Ohmygod hot!"

.

"Ooh I forgot to warn you it's hot though it is called hot cider. Go figure!" she winces.

.

"Ya don't say" Jackie cracks, laughing at her own misery. "Well, you were right about this making me warmer, so that's good, right?"

.

Red walks through the living room door into the kitchen and freezes. "You're a sight for sore eyes," he grins.

.

Jackie leaves her mug on the counter and runs into Red's waiting arms. Usually he braces when she hugs him, but this time she can feel him giving it back to her in full force.

.

"It's been lonely at the garage since you've been gone" he says. "None of these dunderheads are any good with a wrench," he complains.

.

"I'll stop by this week" she offers.

.

"Yeah?" Red's grin grows bigger.

.

Jackie nods.

.

"I'd like that," he says. "You on your way downstairs now?"

.

She looks down at her feet and shrugs.

.

"Nervous huh?"he asks.

.

She gives him a tight smile.

.

"Come on, I'll walk you down" he says as he wraps an arm around her shoulders.

.

Red practically pushes a reluctant Jackie down the stairs to the basement.

.

"Attention idiots! You have a guest. Kitty really wants her to stay, so don't scare her off, okay?" he announces as he quickly retreats upstairs, leaving a shell-shocked Jackie on her own to face a stunned crowd.

.

She looks around the basement as sees a sea of faces she knows very well and yet at the same time not at all.

.

Kelso, as usual, is the first to break the silence. "Well, looks like I owe Fez 20 bucks. I said you probably got uggo or fat, which is why you've been avoiding us, but he disagreed. Fez was right. You still look hot, so now I'm out $20. Thanks Jackie," he jokes as he climbs the stairs to give her a hug.

.

Even after they broke up, Kelso always remained Jackie's biggest champion and admirer. Maybe it's because of their history or perhaps it's because he chose a puppy as his spirit animal, but Michael doesn't seem to have one mean or vindictive bone in his whole body.

.

As Jackie lets Kelso's hug sink in, she realizes that physical contact is one of the things she regrets giving up this year. Just as their lengthy hug is about to end, she hears him whisper "I've got your back" into her ear as he pulls away. She smiles with only her eyes in his direction.

.

Kelso pulls her down the rest of the stairs by her hand. He stops at the bottom, leans in and lays a quick kiss on Jackie's lips. She looks up at him puzzled until he points to the the mistletoe hanging from ceiling. "It's the law. Christmas law."

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"Ah. Now I know why you volunteered to bring me downstairs," she smirks.

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Kelso shrugs. "I get it where I can," he says with glee.

.

Donna approaches Jackie tentatively, not sure if they should hug or what. "Hey Jackie" she says to the girl who was once like a sister to her.

.

"Hey" Jackie responds with a cool friendliness.

.

"We, um, we missed seeing you around," she offers in an unsure tone before backing away.

.

"Thanks" she smiles before she moves to the couch and takes her usual seat. Fez comes up to her, kneels at her feet, and grabs her hands.

.

"I know we left things weird," he says, pain and regret radiating from his eyes. "I don't care about all of that anymore. I just miss my princess. I want you back in my life," he confides.

.

The first genuine smile of the day overtakes Jackie's face. "Me too" she says, and amazingly, she finds that she means it. She throws her arms around Fez's neck and squeezes tightly. "You know, until I saw you tonight, I forgot how much I love dancing. I haven't been to a club since the last time you took me."

.

"Give me your number and I'll take you again," he promises.

.

Eric clears his throat loudly from across the room.

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Jackie looks up at him.

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"Welcome home" he says, trying not to betray his happiness at her homecoming. "It felt kinda weird here without you. Too quiet."

.

She nods towards him in acknowledgment, not wanting to make him feel more uncomfortable "Thanks Eric".

.

"Do you want a beer?" Donna asks.

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"Do you have anything else?" Jackie responds.

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"Umm...Kitty's emergency wine. I don't think she'd mind, seeing as it's Christmas and all," she says, digging in the cabinet above the deep freeze. "Anybody else?" she asks.

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Fez raises his hand. "I'll drink with her."

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"Ooh la di da. Fez is fancy," Donna mocks while pouring an open bottle of wine into two red solo cups.

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An uncomfortable silence fills the room suddenly, leaving Jackie to wonder what just happened.

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Noticing the expression on Kelso's face, she turns around to find that Steven has entered the basement.

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They lock eyes for a moment, before he walks to the shower and grabs himself a beer.

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"Hey" he says without looking at her as he sits in his chair.

.

"Hey yourself" she responds, truly amused at his overdoing of the zen. He hasn't seen her in a year, there's no way he's this casual. Even him.

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Hyde seems irked by her subtle calling out. "Something funny?"

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"Nope" she responds, trying harder to stifle her nervous laughter. "No" she tries harder to be serious.

.

Hyde rolls his eyes without looking at her. In fact, he hasn't looked at her directly once since descending the stairs into the basement. It's funny how she never noticed it before, how Steven is at his weakest when he avoids eye contact. She had always thought it was the opposite, that he was at his most vulnerable when he allowed her to look into his eyes. She was wrong. Watching him react to her like a woodland creature scurrying away from a floodlight really drives that point home. How did she not notice this before?

.

"Can we put music on?" Jackie asks, dying to fill up the room with background noise.

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"Good idea" Eric says as he practically trips over his feet running to his stereo. He puts on the Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" 8-track. "Sadly, we don't have lasers here, though I can get my lightsaber from upstairs if anybody is interested".

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"Nobody is interested honey" Donna touches her boyfriend's chest.

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Jackie shares a knowing look with Fez. This is going to be a long fucking night.

.

"Do you guys still do circle time?" she asks, looking for an escape from this awkward hell.

* * *

**A/N- What do you think so far? Please submit a review and let me know! **


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

.

The gang sits in a circle and passes a bong.

.

"Yeah, this is much better" Jackie smiles as she exhales and the weed overtakes her senses. "Much".

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"You're so tiny, Jackie. I forgot how small you were. Like a pocket person." Donna gets excited "Pocket people would make the best kid's toy! You could collect them all and then stuff them in your pocket. I would totally buy one!"

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"Oh please. Everybody looks like a Pocket Person compared to you, lumberjack," Jackie sniffs.

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"Why are all of the good sugar holidays all bunched together at the end of the year?" Fez muses while snacking on a candy cane. "Halloween happens, then right after you have Thanksgiving and all those delicious pies, and then BAM! Christmas cookies and cake. Then there's a long drought until Easter rolls around. Why do we have to wait four months to have peeps? I love peeps. Peeps!" Fez laughs at the word.

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"Peeps! Good one." Kelso nods and laughs with Fez. "Brooke wants me to dress up like Santa tomorrow for Betsy. I mean, it's practically a crime to bury all of this hotness in a fat suit and beard. I should know, I'm a cop. I'm like an expert in Christmas law." Kelso says proudly as he sucks on his candy cane.

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"Peeps!" Fez starts laughing again, which triggers a giggle fit in Kelso as well.

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"Santa is just a stooge made up by Coke and corporate America in order to keep their industries alive through the act of bribing kids to stay in line. I mean, if kids are good, they get toys and Mattel wins. If they're bad, the coal industry wins. It's a win-win situation for The Man," Hyde rants angrily, then puts a candy cane in his mouth and crunches down hard.

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Jackie looks at Hyde seriously "I must be seriously baked, because that actually makes total sense to me."

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"What?" he snaps, finding it weird that she agrees with him.

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"I think Christmas is a holiday designed for fat girls who want skinny girls to eat so much pie that they get fat too. You know, to even the playing field? Santa is fat, so he's probably on their side. It's a conspiracy." Jackie nods vigorously then suddenly has an epiphany. "Maybe Santa is 'The Man'?"

.

Eric looks like he has a sour taste in his mouth. "I think you may have dated Hyde a little too long, Jackie," he says as he shoves a mince pie in his mouth. "Do you think they celebrate Christmas on Tatooine? They have three moons, you know, so it may be too bright to use any Christmas lights, right?" Eric wonders. "And the reindeer might accidentally land on a sand pit, which would suck."

.

"Pocket People would also make a great title for a horror film like The Blob. Beware of the Pocket People!" Donna says in a weird robot voice while making scary hands. "My hands are HUGE!" she laughs.

.

"Santa is such an asshole" Jackie says as she eats a mince pie. "Ooh, this is good pie" she smiles.

.

* * *

.

Jackie, Fez and Kelso play a game of poker on a card table near the shower, while Donna and Eric make out on the couch next to them. Hyde sits in his chair drinking a beer and ignoring the rest of the gang.

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Jackie glances over at him and then back to the other guys. "Is he always like this now?"

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"For a while, I guess. He wasn't this way when you left?" Kelso asks.

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"He was worse, actually" she says, raising her eyebrows.

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"You know I can hear you, right?" Hyde asks, getting annoyed.

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"Whatever" Jackie shrugs.

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Hyde laughs to himself at her employment of zen. He has to hand it to her, she's got zen in spades tonight.

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"You could always move ten feet over and join us. That way we can talk about you to your face instead of _literally_ right behind your back" she suggests.

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"I'm good" he says grumpily.

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"Somebody's gonna get a lump of coal in his stocking," Jackie snickers to Fez who joins her.

.

"I raise by six candy canes," Fez announces.

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Hyde turns around to face Jackie. "Why did you come back, anyway? We were all enjoying the peace and quiet".

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"You don't seem like you enjoy much of anything,_ Hyde_, except for binge drinking, of course" she says coolly as she throws six candy canes into the pot. "I'll call" she announces to the players.

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"It helps to binge drink when you've got a lot of bad memories you want to block out," he smiles obnoxiously at her and downs the rest of his beer in one go. Hyde makes an exaggerated quenched sound, and then pops open another brew.

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"Will you two put a sock in it for one night? It's Christmas!" Donna complains, tearing herself away from Eric.

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"She started it" Hyde grumbles, earning him a nasty look from Jackie.

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Donna leaves the couch and walks around to the card table. "Deal me in" she demands as she perches herself on the back of the couch.

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"Hello? You left me with a bit of a situation over here, Big D," Eric whimpers while sliding a cushion onto his lap to block his erection from view. "A little Christmas charity wouldn't kill you, honey".

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Kelso deals Donna a set of five cards.

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"You're letting him be the dealer? He's a big cheater with poor math skills" Donna frowns.

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"For your information, Juggs, I only cheat when I'm down". Kelso gives Jackie the eye to see if he can read her hand. "I'm gonna call".

.

Jackie looks at him confused. "You didn't put anything into the pot, Michael".

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"Can I borrow $5, Jackie?" he asks her.

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"We're playing for candy canes" she laughs.

.

"Is that a no?" Kelso asks.

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"You wusses are playing for candy canes?" Hyde mocks them. "How about a real game?"

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"How about-you're not even playing so you don't get a say?" Jackie snaps.

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Hyde takes a moment to think about it, then grabs his chair and brings it over to the card table. "Okay, deal me in," he orders her.

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"Say please" she pouts her lips out, making his blood run hot. "And take those glasses off. It isn't fair to the other players".

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"Good to see you've been keeping your ball-busting skills sharp" he says as he takes his glasses off and hooks them on his shirt. "Okay. Pleaseeee?" he sticks out his bottom lip like Jackie always does.

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Jackie looks at him for a moment, forcing down an amused smile. "Fine" she says as she nods to Kelso to deal Hyde in.

.

"What do you all say about making this a little more interesting?" Hyde suggests.

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Fez's eyes widen. "My first American game of strip poker!"

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"NO." Jackie shuts him down.

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"What do you have in mind, Hyde?" Eric asks, now perched up on the couch to join the game.

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"How about...the winner gets to turn one of the losers into their slave?" Hyde pitches.

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"No way. Fez will make us do something gross" Donna complains to Jackie, who agrees.

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Fez shrugs "She's right".

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"The winner could choose one of the losers to dress up like a woman" Jackie suggests, clapping her hands in excitement. "I'm going to pick Donna," she smiles.

.

"What about 20 Questions?" Eric suggests. "The winner can ask somebody 20 questions they've always wanted to know and the loser has to answer each one honestly. No passes".

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"Stop being such a girl, Forman," Hyde grumbles.

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"Seriously" Kelso agrees.

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"What? You guys don't want to know which one of you Jackie thinks is better in bed?" he asks.

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They look at each other for a moment.

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"20 Questions it is!" declares Donna.

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* * *

.

Hyde and Jackie are the last two players at the poker table. She's now drinking directly from the wine bottle.

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"Prepare to have your ass kicked" he warns her. "I'm all in" he says, pushing all of his candy canes towards the center of the table.

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"Ha. You know that overconfidence is your tell, right?" she smiles.

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"Is that so, doll?" he asks, intrigued by her theory.

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"Let's find out. I'll call," she says as she pushes all of her candy into the pot. "Ready to tell us all of your deepest, darkest secrets?" she taunts him as she splays her hand out on the table.

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Hyde looks at her cards and shakes his head. "Fuck" he puts his losing hand down on the table.

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"Oh, poor thing" she laughs. "You must've forgotten that I'm as smart as I am pretty."

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Hyde rolls his eyes. "Who's your mark?"

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"Easy. I pick you," she says gleefully.

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"Nope" he says definitively.

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"Oh my God this is going to be so much fun!" Donna squeals.

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"Yeah? Well I'm not doing it" Hyde barks.

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"You're going to welch on a bet? I always thought you were a man of your word," Jackie challenges him.

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"We both know that's not true," he says as he looks her up and down. "Okay, let's get this over with," he says as he puts his glasses back on his face.

.

Jackie frowns "No glasses".

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"Why not?" he asks.

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"Same reason as poker. We can't tell if you're lying to us if you wear those," she explains.

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"That's your problem, not mine," he grins, taunting her.

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"She right, man" Eric pipes in, backing Jackie up. "Lose the shades".

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"Fucking Brutus" Hyde mumbles in Eric's direction as he removes his sunglasses once again.

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Jackie claps her hands. "Alright then. Give me..." she looks at her half empty bottle of wine "...about more four fingers of wine to come up with my questions and I'll meet you back at this table. Be there or be square."

.

Hyde finds himself looking forward to playing this game with the enthusiastic brunette, despite the personal cost to him. 'Scheming Jackie' was always his favorite to watch, next to 'Naked Jackie', that is. Hyde nods as she stands up. "Hey!" he calls out to her.

.

Jackie turns around.

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"This didn't suck" he smiles, pointing to the poker table.

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"No. It really didn't" she agrees and walks away. As she leaves the table, Hyde suddenly finds himself very cold without her attention there to warm him.

.

* * *

.

Jackie grabs a pen and paper from under the TV stand and walks over to Kelso. "If you could ask Hyde any question, what would it be?" she speaks softly, trying to keep Hyde from hearing.

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"Oooh, I've got it. I want to know what he did that made you leave me for him," he says seriously.

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"Michael..." Jackie shifts uncomfortably on her feet.

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"I'm serious. I've always wanted to ask him that. I want to know if he did something kinky in bed that hypnotized you into throwing over this (he gestures to his body) for that (he points to Hyde with a puzzled expression on his face)? Write it down!" he demands.

.

"Okay" she says reluctantly as she records it.

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"I also want to know how he makes it hurt so much when he frogs me," he says.

.

"Got it" she puts it on the list.

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"And I want to know who he thinks is the best at burning people," he says with a malicious smile.

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She laughs and puts the pen to the paper. "Anything else?"

.

"Nope, I'm good" he says as he belches loudly and walks away.

.

Jackie approaches Fez."What about you? Any questions for Hyde," she asks.

.

Fez looks at her with accusation. "What are you doing?"

.

"20 questions. Hyde lost the game" she says innocently.

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"No. You know what I'm getting at. Do you have amnesia or something?" Fez asks.

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"What do you want me to do? I'm just happy we're getting along for once," she admits.

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Fez nods. "Okay, just don't let one night cloud your judgment. He's just as big of an asshole as he's always been-and I say this as one of his best friends."

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"Do you have anything you want me to ask him?" she prods.

.

"I do. A lot. Let's start with the obvious- why the hell did he stay with that stripper when she showed up in Point Place?" he questions bluntly.

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"I can't ask him that," she demurely turns her head.

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"You don't want to know?" he challenges her.

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"Of course I do, but you don't think it's over the line?" she asks.

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"He lost, right?" Fez grins. "Mark it down," he orders. "And don't forget to ask him if he regrets it! Same question, two parts."

.

Jackie writes them both down and sighs. "You're really intent on making this the most uncomfortable night of my life, eh?"

.

Fez ignores her protest. "I also want to ask him why he always wears those fucking sunglasses," he tells her.

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She records it in the pad.

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"And how he gets so many sluts to sleep with him!" Fez says.

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She scribbles it on the pad.

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"Also-" Fez continues.

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"No, you're cut off. For now at least," she says as she walks towards Donna and Eric.

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"Hi" she says, grateful to catch them during a lull in their heated make-out session.

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"Congratulations on beating Master Po," Eric laughs, bowing his head to Jackie Kung Fu style. "That must be stinging him pretty badly right about now".

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"Hopefully" she smirks.

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"So we get to help you ask questions, do we?" Donna cackles evilly.

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"I've got one" Eric starts. "I'd like to know why Hyde still lives in my parent's basement when we all know he can afford to leave the nest".

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"That's a good one!" Donna comments. "What about...let's ask him what his favorite color is and why".

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Jackie and Eric look at her like she's nuts.

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"You're not curious to see how he answers that one?" she asks.

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They both shrug and nod their heads.

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"Oh, and ask him if he's ever fooled around with Laurie!" Donna shouts a little too loud.

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Jackie and Eric both groan.

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"Oh gross. Nobody needs to know that. That's not Christmas talk." Eric shakes his head in disgust. "My mom's baby Jesus ornaments are down here, Donna," he says sarcastically.

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"Ask him if he feels like part of the family. You know, like a brother," he says.

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"Aww..." Donna coos as she kisses his cheek. "My sensitive lady" she teases. Suddenly, she becomes very giddy. "Ask him who the great love of his life is" she demands.

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Jackie feels a bit sick to her stomach at that suggestion. "You don't think that's an awkward question for me to be asking him?"

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Donna puts her hand on her hip. "You guys are ancient history, right? I mean, it's not like he's going to say it's _you_."

.

Here it is- the number one reason Jackie chose not to visit the basement anymore. She sucked up quite a bit in the past for the sake of harmony, but she's not about to give them the same courtesy after what she was forced to endure last year.

.

**A/N - I hope it's fun to read, because I'm having a blast writing it. Pretty please- leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am so bowled over by the number of reviews that have come in during the last 24 hours. I can't thank you enough! I'm really glad most of you are enjoying this story. I love the zennie chemistry and just like finding interesting ways for them to crackle. Thanks again for reading!**

**.**

**CHAPTER 3**

.

"Wow. That was pretty freaking hurtful, Donna." Jackie declares.

.

Donna is taken aback by her ex-friend's sudden outburst. "I, um, I didn't even mean that. I don't know why I said it, Jackie. I'm sorry," she says as she hangs her head shamefully. "I must be drunk or in burn mode or something".

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"It's Christmas, so I'll accept your apology, but know this, Donna- the main reason I stayed away from the basement wasn't Hyde, okay? It was painful enough having my ex burning me every chance he got like it was an Olympic sport, but to have my best friend as his cheerleader made it so much worse," she rants, happy to finally get that off her chest.

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Donna nods. "I haven't been myself for a long time. Maybe we could, um, have brunch or something and talk? I'll buy," she offers.

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"I don't know. I mean, what else is there to say? You really let me down," she says plainly.

.

"Yeah, I realized that a while back when someone at the Hub asked me why you weren't hanging out with us anymore. I thought maybe it was because of Sam, but then I remembered that you left months after she did," she says as she twists a lock of blonde hair nervously. "I was self-absorbed and selfish and I'm not proud of myself. Being a better friend to you was actually on my New Year's resolution list, but by January 2nd you were gone."

.

"We dated over two years and he married a fucking stripper while on a bender! And when I needed you most you invited her to a slumber party. You know, for a feminist, you really don't understand women at all," Jackie says shaking her head. "I was in so much pain, and you just pretended like I was fine because it was too much effort for you or maybe you didn't want me bringing you down or something?" she fights back the tears building behind her eyes.

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"Probably a little of both," she says. "You and Hyde always reminded me of Eric and me, because we kind of all got serious at the same time. I mean, I got dumped too and I wasn't even given a damn reason! I felt so raw. Watching you feel sad only reminded me of my own pain, and I think that's the real reason I avoided you." Donna realizes she's been crying and wipes away her tears with the back of her hand.

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"Oh no. Your makeup" Jackie says, starting to cry a little herself.

.

Donna wipes the tears from Jackie's cheek and smiles. "I know I have a lot of making up to do, but I really do miss you. I mean, my only female friend now is Fez," she sighs. "Jackie, please meet me for brunch? Pleaseeee?" She juts out her bottom lip, using Jackie's begging tactic against it's inventor.

.

Jackie looks at her for a moment laughs.

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"Well, it worked for Hyde earlier," Donna grins.

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"Fine" Jackie says giving in, which makes Donna do a little victory jig. "But only because you need a girlfriend to keep you from going to a Christmas party wearing sensible shoes," she says, gazing down with disappointment at Donna's choice of footwear.

.

The women hug long and close, rocking back and forth.

.

Eric wipes a fake tear from his eye and puts his arms around the two women. "Okay ladies. Why don't you kiss and make up now? Go ahead, I won't tell."

.

"Pervert!" Donna frogs him. "Okay, back to the Hyde torture. In honor of our reconciliation, Jackie, my next question is to ask him why he treated you so badly when Sam was here," Donna says.

.

"I don't want to go there," she replies. "Talking about it just makes me think about it and thinking about it just pisses me off, and I'm trying really hard to be less bitchy now." she asks.

.

"You know what? You _have_ been less bitchy, Jackie! You're more like the devil's minion now rather than pure evil incarnate. Color me impressed," Eric jokes.

.

"Thanks dork. I'd say you're less of a loser now, but I don't want to lie on Christmas," she says with faux-sweetness.

.

"And there it is!" Eric holds out his arms like he's presenting her.

.

"Okay, I've got it. Ask Hyde if he has any guilty pleasure bands. I'm dying to know!" Donna confides.

.

Jackie smiles. "That's a good one," she says as she writes it down.

.

"Ask him how he truly feels about Star Wars," Eric says.

.

Both Donna and Jackie groan.

.

"Fine. Ask him what the best day of his life was," he corrects himself.

.

"I love it" Jackie scribbles away.

.

Donna interjects "Also ask him about his worst day".

.

Jackie's brow furrows at this one. She has a feeling that she has something to do with that day, but maybe she's overestimating her importance in his life. Regardless, she writes it on the paper.

.

"This is fun. Can we watch you rake him over the coals?" Donna wonders.

.

"You have to watch or it won't be as humiliating for him as we want it to be" Jackie says.

.

Eric has an idea. "I want to know what his greatest regret is".

.

Jackie stops and looks at Eric sadly before writing it down. "I think we've got what we need".

.

Hyde looks over at Jackie and smiles. It always made him happy to see her when she gets excited about something. She really knows how to kick it up a notch. There's something about the way she looks at life that makes her feel everything more deeply than most people. He knows the flip side, but he's been numb for so long that he's welcome a little pain. A little of anything would be better than a whole lot of nothing. She has a talent for living and God does he envy it. He hasn't experienced life that intensely since...well, since she left him.

.

Jackie practically skips over to Hyde and plops down on her folding chair at the card table. "Ready?" she asks.

.

"As ready as I'll ever be" he sighs, putting his glasses back on.

.

"ah-ah-ah! No glasses. That was part of the deal" she reminds him.

.

"Worth a try" he shrugs as he tucks them back into his shirt, then turns to face her directly.

.

Okay, some of these questions are kind of hairy, so I'm going to start you off light by giving you Kelso's contribution" she laughs at her own joke. "Question #1 – Michael wants to know what you did that made me leave him for you. He thinks it's some kind of sexual trick, by the way".

.

He laughs at Kelso's assumption. "Well, he's a liar and I was always honest with you. Next question," he barks.

.

Jackie thinks about his answer and realizes that he's right. He has always been honest. She hasn't always loved what's come out of his mouth, but he never sneaked around or tried to pull one over on her. In fact, if one of them was a lair it was her. She spent a lot of time trying to manipulate him into doing things instead of just asking him directly. She has as little faith in him to do the right thing as he had in her.

.

"#2- He wants to know how you make it hurt so much when you frog him," Jackie reads.

.

"I put a little English on it, you know? Turn your hand while mid-frog" he says, looking at Kelso.

.

"Thanks man!" Kelso laughs as Hyde nods back at him.

.

"Question #3- Who do you think is the best at burning people?" she says.

.

Hyde smiles. "I assume he means besides me."

.

Jackie nods "or me, obviously".

.

"You're not too bad, but I'm going to have to go with Laurie Forman. I've seen her make grown men cry," he recalls with admiration. "Actually, I've seen her make Erica cry more times than I have fingers".

.

"Laurie sucks!" Eric calls out through cupped hands.

.

"She sure does!" Kelso screams then turns to Forman. "BURN!" he laughs hysterically.

.

"Good one!" Fez yells.

.

Hyde rolls his eyes. "Alright, settle down kids. Gimme the next one, Jackie".

.

"The next three are Fez's. Question #4. Why are you always wearing those fucking sunglasses? This is a direct quote by the way," she laughs.

.

Hyde thinks for a moment on that one. "It makes it easier to cheat at poker? I have sensitive eyes?"

.

Jackie pretends to sneeze "Ah-Bullshit!"

.

"Bless you Jackie," he smirks.

.

"Come on," she prods. "Out with it!"

.

"I wear them because there are some things I see that I'd like to block out, and they make it a little easier," he lies.

.

"Not true. You wear them to block us from seeing what you're thinking," Jackie insists.

.

Hyde looks her dead in the eye and shrugs, admitting she's right.

.

"I'll take that as an admission," she smiles triumphantly.

.

"This is riveting," Donna says. "I wish we had popcorn".

.

Eric pulls a strand of stringed popcorn from the basement Christmas tree and hands it to Donna.

.

"Thanks baby" she kisses him and starts to eat the popcorn off the string.

.

"Question #5- you're going to like this one Steven- how do you get so many sluts to sleep with you?" Jackie asks, not really wanting to know the answer.

.

"I tell 'em what they want to hear," he says simply while holding his hands out.

.

"What the hell does that mean? Give me something concrete, fool!" Fez screams in anger.

.

"Try to figure out their deepest, darkest fear about themselves, Fez, and then exploit that fear as a way to manipulate them into the sack," he explains. "Oh, and aim one level lower than you think you can probably get. This won't work with chicks who are in your league."

.

Jackie's brow furrows at that answer. Did he do that with her? His answer is somewhat disturbing for her to hear.

.

"You're a pig, Hyde!" Donna shouts at him. "Seriously. I'm embarrassed for you".

.

"Don't be. It's only embarrassing when it doesn't work" he smirks smugly until he notices the disconcerted expression on Jackie's face. "I didn't do that with you" he says under his breath, just loud enough for only her to hear.

.

Jackie's face softens and the corners of her mouth turn up slightly at his reassurance as well as his ability to still read her mind.

.

"Question #6 goes into some dicey territory. I don't know if I can ask this one Fez" she says, turning to her foreign friend.

.

"I'm pretty sure I can handle whatever you throw at me" Hyde pushes.

.

Jackie looks directly at him. "Okay. Why the hell did you stay with that stripper when she showed up in Point Place and do you regret it?" she asks tersely. "Another direct quote from Fez," she says quietly.

.

Hyde is seriously wounded by this line of questioning, but never lets it show and stays the course. "Honestly? That look on your face right before you bolted from the Forman's was the most gut-wrenching thing I've...Jackie, I thought I fucked up so badly that you would never take me back. I also thought you probably shouldn't take me back, because of what I did. You deserved better than that. At the time I thought that staying with Sam protected both of us from getting hurt, which was obviously wrong. And yes, I regret it every fucking day of my life," he says quietly as he looks away from her.

.

The audience of friends is rapt. You can hear a pin drop.

.

Jackie coughs and regains her composure. "Here's a lighter one from Donna. #7- What is your favorite color and why?" she says.

.

"Booo!" Kelso and Fez shout in unison.

.

"We have 20 questions are you picked this? Donna, you're lame," complains Fez.

.

Hyde chuckles. "Black obviously, like my soul. I also find it slimming," he jokes.

.

Jackie laughs. "#8 – Donna wants to know if you've ever fooled around with Laurie" she sighs, holding her breath until he answers this one.

.

Hyde shakes his head no. "There isn't enough beer in Wisconsin," he shivers with disgust, "or penicillin," he says, leaving it at that.

.

"#9- and I can't wait to hear your answer to this one- Do you have any guilty pleasure bands and who are they?" Jackie scoots to the edge of her seat for the answer.

.

"Not ABBA" he teases. "Umm...I don't hate Donna Summer...or Johnny Cash".

.

"Hot Donna will be dedicating the song "Hot Stuff" to you on her next radio show This ones goes out to Donna Summer's biggest closet fan..." Donna taunts.

.

"Hey, I like Donna Summer!" Jackie says, defending Hyde.

.

"And THAT is why it's a guilty pleasure and not something I will ever admit to outside of this room," he says dryly.

.

"#10- the halfway point. This is kind of awkward for me to ask, but I'm just going to suck it up. Who is the great love of your life?" Jackie quickly drops her eyes and looks at her hands, which are currently kneading each other to death under the table.

.

"That's easy. The El Camino," he grins.

.

"That's a bullshit answer!" Donna heckles, tossing popcorn at him, which he picks off his shirt and eats.

.

"I'm going to accept that answer" Jackie quickly says "for the sake of time".

.

"Jackie's a coward!" Eric shouts.

.

Hyde breathes a sigh of relief as he makes brief eye contact with his ex.

.

"#11- you're over the hump now" she says.

.

Jackie is interrupted by snickers. "She said hump" Fez laughs hard, sending Kelso and Hyde over the brink with him.

.

"As I was saying. #11 - what was the worst day of your life?" she asks.

.

Hyde grows quiet for a moment and thinks about what he wants to say. "The day I realized my mother wasn't coming back for me".

.

Nobody says a word.

.

"Same for me," Jackie says simply. Hyde shifts in his chair, remembering how proud she was about people not finding out she was abandoned. She used to be so damn strong.

.

Moving on. #12 – courtesy of Eric- What was your best day?" she asks.

.

Hyde smiles broadly. "Easy. They day the Formans took me home with them".

.

Jackie locks eyes with him and smiles. She's probably the only other person in the room who understands just how much this meant to him. Probably even more than it meant to her when he sneaked her into his room for weeks rather than have her sleep alone in an abandoned house.

.

"#13 – Eric wants to know why you still live in your parent's basement when we all know you can afford to leave the nest?" she smirks, wondering how he's going to answer this one.

.

"I didn't have a real family until I was 17, and I'm not ready to give it up yet," he says earnestly and completely devoid of zen.

.

"#14- Eric also wants to know if you feel like you're part of the Forman family yet," she asks.

.

Hyde holds back his emotion, fingering the glasses around his neck. "I do".

.

Eric gives him a smile. "Me too" he says as he throws himself at Hyde and forces a hug on him.

.

"Aww!" Donna, Jackie and Fez coo at this exchange between the boys. Hyde, once again, rolls his eyes as Eric smothers Hyde's face with fake kisses.

.

"Alright, you've had your fill, Forman. Leave some for the others," he snarks.

.

"#15- Eric would like to know what your greatest regret is" Jackie says as she swallows hard.

.

Hyde looks at Jackie intently with a pained expression on his face. "Chicago. And every day after that."

.

Jackie feels like someone's knocked the wind out of her. "Me too" she hears herself say under her breath without realizing it.

.

Sensing they're interrupting a private moment, the gang starts to disperse.

.

"I'm going to go make popcorn! Does anybody want any?" Donna asks, tapping Eric on the leg.

.

"I'll go with you," Eric offers.

.

"I do!" Kelso screams.

.

"I want Peeps!" Fez screams.

.

"Peeps!" Kelso laughs.

.

Hyde and Jackie stay in their seats, both trying to avoid each other's gaze. Hyde motions with his head that they should go into his room to talk. She nods ambivalently, stands, and follows him in.

.

Eric and Donna exchange a hopeful look.

.

**A/N - Sound off in the reviews section-even if you're not registered you can still leave one. **


	4. Chapter 4

**I am FLOORED by the number of responses in such a short period of time and so flattered! I really appreciate all of you who are taking the time to read this, especially those who have been leaving reviews and feedback. xoxo**

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**I know I always say this, but I really look forward to checking the reviews each day and they motivate me to do those frequent updates that I know you all love when you're reading fan fic. I promise to do my best **** to get the story out there quickly and I especially promise you all that I WILL finish this story. Like Jackie, I'm no quitter (see chapter below).**

**.**

**CHAPTER 4**

.

Hyde walks into his room and gestures for Jackie to sit on the bed. He takes the chair opposite her and starts playing with a snow globe Kelso brought him from Chicago.

.

Jackie settles onto the mattress and stares at her hands, the only safe place that doesn't trigger any sticky memories for her in this room. This is the first time she's been on his bed since they were together and it feels unsettling. If this bed could talk, it would have enough material for a filibuster, and now she's just sitting on it like she didn't have some of the best sex of her life there. It's just a mattress now, some springs and a little cotton, not the safe haven it once was.

.

Funny how under different circumstances, a magic wand is just an ordinary piece of wood.

.

"So..." Jackie starts, after several minutes of pregnant, uncomfortable silence.

.

"It's kind of weird having you in here," Hyde confesses honestly. "Good weird, I mean" he says, quickly correcting himself before she has a chance to take it the wrong way.

.

Jackie looks up at him for a moment and then back down at her hands, which are getting clammier by the second. "What did you want to talk to me about?" she asks timidly as she kneads her hands like two delicate mounds of dough.

.

"I don't...I don't know, man. It was just getting heavy out there and I thought we should probably talk alone," he says, not knowing where exactly he plans to take conversation.

.

His insides clench as he struggles with how much he wants to or even should reveal to her about the way he's been feeling. Clearly she's had some time to reflect on herself over the past year -it's pretty obvious judging by the way she's been handling him tonight- but she's not the only one.

.

Her absence from the basement made it painfully obvious that his behavior had gotten way out of hand. Jackie was no quitter and she had a talent for bouncing back like a Weeble-Wobble, so her flight could only mean he had gone too far over the edge in his cruelty and denial. Of course, he kind of knew this already but like most addicts (or masochists with a sadistic streak, in his case), he hadn't come to accept it until he hit bottom.

.

Mustering up the courage, Jackie launches into a speech she's been rehearsing in her head for the past year on the off-chance that she might bump into her ex somewhere in town. "Steven...I'm not mad anymore. I'm not anything, really. I just don't think we have anything left to say, you know?" she says thoughtfully.

.

"Do you really feel that way?" he asks with a lump now forming in his throat. She sounds over it all. How can she be fucking over it when he's just starting to deal with it now? Hyde can't believe it, but he's actually longing for the days when she hated his guts, because at least he knew she still cared for him on some level.

.

How can she seem so apathetic? He could never feel apathy for Jackie, despite how good he is at faking it. He finds himself surprised and yes, maybe a little freaking angry that she's able to switch off her feelings when he knows she once loved him-or was that just a lie? He knows he's not entitled to get angry, but that's never stopped him before.

.

"I'm tired of fighting with you," she says, sounding as exhausted as he feels. "Even when we're not around each other this thing (she motions between them) occupies way too much space in my head, space I could be using for other things. Between you and my parents and Donna, I'm just burnt out. I just wanted a little peace for once," she admits. "Funny how I'm the peace-loving burn-out now, huh?"

.

Hyde laughs in disbelief. "That's why you disappeared? You were...burnt-out?" he asks her with a slight edge.

.

Jackie shrugs, not willing to give him more of an explanation than that.

.

Just as he's about to say something mean, Hyde inexplicably shouts out "God, I was such a dick to you!" He drags both hands over his face roughly and feels the full weight of regret land squarely on his broad chest, now fully understanding the extent of the damage he caused.

.

He stripped her of her spirit, and for what -to convince himself he didn't love her or need her, when he desperately did both? If some other guy had done this to Jackie he'd tear him limb from limb, but what's he supposed to do when the asshole is the guy staring at him every day in the mirror?

.

She nods. "Pretty much, but it's over right? I think we should just move on and try to be friends," she says trying to sound breezy. Sure. Breezy like a hurricane.

.

"I don't think it's over for me," he complains. "Seriously, if I could frog myself right now in the arm now I would."

.

Jackie looks at him for a second, then out of nowhere, she frogs him in the arm with surprising force. Hyde mouths the word "ow" and rubs the spot where she made contact. He looks at her with a mix of bemusement and pride.

.

Jackie's eyes light up at the moment of impact, as if the act of letting her genuine feelings loose were a soothing tonic. "Just helping out a friend, man" Jackie says, mocking Hyde's voice as she slips back into control mode.

.

"Thanks?" he responds, not knowing what else to say. He had asked for it and he definitely had it coming, but who knew that this feisty midget could hit as hard as she kicks?

.

Now he gets it. She couldn't be herself around him for fear of being made fun of. Pretending to be something you're not can be suffocating. He knows, because he's lived this way nearly every day of his life. She's just too genuine to play the game for too long.

.

"Wow. That felt surprisingly good. I should've done that a while ago," she smiles as she rises off of the bed to leave.

.

"Wait! You're leaving?" Hyde says, trying to hide his disappointment.

.

"Is there anything else you need to get off your dirty t-shirt?" Jackie asks him, honestly confused and dying to get out of that room and off that damned mattress before it triggers memories that would be best left forgotten.

.

"I never finished answering the questions," he says, glad he was able to quickly think of a legitimate-sounding excuse.

.

"You're off the hook," she says with a wave of the hand as she heads for the door.

.

As Jackie places her handle on the cold door knob she feels Hyde tug at the edge of her sleeve. "Come on doll, the natives will have my head if I don't. Do a guy a solid?" he gazes up at her with cheek, doing the male equivalent of eye-lash batting.

.

"I don't know...it's getting kind of late..." Jackie mumbles as she tries to plot a graceful exit.

.

"What if I answered one I skipped? What if I answered #10?" he offers, which prompts her to carefully turn around to face him.

.

"Go on" she encourages cautiously, knowing that the answer he gives has the possibility of being soul-crushing.

.

"The answer to #10 is Jackie Burkhart, but you probably knew that already," he blurts out quickly as he returns his focus to shaking up the Chicago snow globe once again.

.

"I didn't know," she responds, slightly shocked, afraid to look up.

.

Hyde stands up next to Jackie, her sudden close proximity sending him into a lustful reverie that he buries deep within. "How could you not know that? Who else would it be?" Hyde murmurs at her is if she's crazy.

.

Jackie turns to face him. "Sam? Chrissy? Somebody I've never met before?" she says rattling off some of her guesses. "I've been out of your life for a year now, you know, anything could have happened then."

.

He shakes his head and looks back down at the globe. "I'm sorry. That's something I should've made sure you knew. If it came as a surprise, then I did a pretty crap job of making you feel...I guess I was an even shittier boyfriend than I thought...if that's possible," he tags on to the back for good measure.

.

"Oh it's possible" she says finally looking intently at him. "What do you think that ultimatum and Chicago was about, anyway? I didn't really want to get married right then, Steven, I just wanted to know that you wanted to be with me for the long haul. I never knew how you really felt about me, not really. I was just trying to force your hand. I wanted you to show me your cards, so to speak. I know I went about it all wrong, but I was young. I'm still young and...I'm sick of people leaving me, okay?"

.

"Me too. Ironic, huh?" he sighs.

.

Jackie looks at him sideways.

.

Hyde gives her a hopeful smile. "I still have five questions left," he says, eyes and hands returning back to the snow globe for comfort.

.

She nods and grabs the globe from his hands, brushing her fingers over his which send shock waves of heat through his body as she takes it from him. "Chicago, eh?" she groans as she notices what city the snow globe represents. "Bet you're super thrilled to have a souvenir to remind you of our time there" she comments sarcastically as she places the globe on the shelf.

.

Hyde smiles. That's more like it. A bitchy Jackie is a happy Jackie. This he can get on board with.

.

She flips the pad open once again, landing it on a blank page. "#16" she announces, now just making up questions up as she goes along. "Why were you so cruel to me when Sam was here? You were even horrible to me after she left."

.

He looks at her and exhales. "I'm not proud of the way I treated you. I know you'll find this hard to believe, but I really felt sick every single time I said something mean to you. I felt every burn I gave you. I just couldn't help myself. You were always there, looking so damned beautiful, with all of this love and pain in your eyes, and I knew we could never go back. You'd never look at me the way you once did, so seeing you like that was just torture" he says with emotion. "I guess I wanted to destroy you since I knew you'd never be mine again. I'm a horrible, selfish person, Jackie. You said it once yourself. Poor people are bad."

.

"Well, I should've guessed. I mean, you were such an asshole, and if you didn't care anymore you probably would've just ignored me right? I learned that lesson in grade school when you used to pull my braids," she says.

.

"Can you blame me? You were a pretty cute ten year old," he says faux-seriously.

.

"I was!" she beams. "Next question. #17- Did you ever plan on marrying me?" she asks without betraying her emotion.

.

"I bought you a ring, doll. I still have it" he reveals.

.

Jackie's eyes grow wide with shock. "You what? Where is it?" she asks, intrigued.

.

Hyde shakes his head. "I don't want to show it to you."

.

"Why did you keep it instead of giving it to Sam or returning it?" she asks.

.

"Is that #18?" he asks.

.

"It can be" she answers.

.

"I kept it because I thought as long as I had it there might be a chance I could still give it to you one day. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it and I sure as hell wouldn't have given it to Sam. That ring was for you, Jackie" he explains.

.

Jackie feels herself getting light-headed and falls back onto the mattress to sit again.

.

"You okay?" he says, concerned she might be sick.

.

"Just a little dizzy. I'm not used to mixing wine and pot. I think we should on," she pushes, forcing herself to be brave and face him. "#19 – Did you miss me at all after Las Vegas or were you too busy hating me?" she asks.

.

"I missed you every day. Still do. This past year was brutal for me. I drank all the time, didn't take care of myself," he says.

.

"You always do that, Steven" she says, finding this excuse hard to swallow.

.

"You have no idea. Well actually, you do. That porn-stache I was sporting could only have been the result of alcohol-induced psychosis, right? Anyway, I watched that basement door every day hoping that I'd see you again, but you never came," he tells her quite sadly and honestly.

.

"You did?" she asks as a shadow of a smile graces her lips.

.

He nods.

.

"Oh" she sighs out slowly, in an attempt to regulate her breathing. "One left" she announces, trying her best to work up the nerve to broach it. #20 – Are you still in love with me?" she asks timidly, trying to stop herself from letting him know she has any investment in his answer.

.

Hyde's wounded eyes search out her own as he sinks to the ground in front of her. He grabs her hands and tries to will her to look at him. "I know I didn't tell you this enough when we were together, but I loved you and yeah, I still love you now. And I know for a fact that I'll never stop," he says as he lays his head down on her lap and throws himself at her feet to seek absolution for all his past sins.

.

Hot tears pool in Jackie's eyes and she can't hold them in any longer. As she holds Hyde's head in her lap, she feels like she's living in a Dali painting. Everything feels so surreal it's almost like it's not happening at all to her, like it's a dream, yet here they are. She's had similar wish-fulfillment fantasies many times before, but this blows them all out of the water. Can it actually be real this time?

.

Hyde picks his head up and looks into her eyes again. "I have one question for you," he declares.

.

Jackie nods. "Go ahead."

.

"Can you ever forgive me?" his voice breaks to a whisper on the final word.

.

Jackie smiles through her tears. "I already did Steven, because..." her breath hitches as she scurries off his bed and towards the door of his room. She covers her mouth with her hands to strangle her sobs before he can hear them. She can't let him do this to her again. She's done crying over him. DONE.

.

"Shit" Hyde leaps up and runs after her. "Jackie!"

.

Just as she reaches the bottom of the basement stairs, she feels two hands grab her by the shoulders and roughly turn her around.

.

Frozen with fear, hot tears streaming down her face, her eyes dart up to the mistletoe for a split second then back to his eyes as she slowly shakes her head 'no' without any conviction.

.

They stare at each other for a flash before Hyde crashes his mouth into hers, capturing her lips with his own, slowly caressing her tongue, fists running through her hair as he pulls her towards him.

.

At first Jackie stands rigid, hoping she has the strength to resist his assault, but her body betrays her as she soon finds herself giving as good as she gets, gliding her hands down his back, his arms, his face.

.

"Jackie" Hyde moans softly in her ear as he nips at her earlobe before hungrily making the journey down the side of her neck all the way to her collar bone.

.

"God" she whispers, as her senses flood and her brain clouds over, blocking all common sense from view. "Steven..." she pants as he find his favorite spot behind her ear.

.

Then, just as quickly as it started, it ends, as Jackie roughly pushes him off of her and bolts up the staircase to the safety of Kitty and her warm kitchen.

.

**A/N - I had planned to end the story-with a happy ending-in this chapter, but it seems like a lot of you would like to see things go further, so I'm going to give it a shot! It won't be as long as my other stories, but I'll try to give it a nice length. Please let me know what you think of this chapter in the reviews section. Newbies and anons always welcome!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Once again, you guys are awesome at leaving feedback. **

**.**

**CHAPTER 5**

.

Hyde sits in the middle of the couch, head in hand, nursing a beer like his life depends on it.

.

He lifts his head, still able to smell her perfume hanging in the air and curses his greediness. He couldn't just be happy with forgiveness, he stupidly had to double down like a gambler with an itchy trigger finger and go for the whole jackpot. Jackie offered her forgiveness and friendship and he, like a drunk old lady at the slot machines, just didn't know when to pack up and go home.

.

It's a miracle he had gotten Jackie to even look at him, much less talk to him after his treatment of her the previous year. All that progress has evaporated now. This is what happens when you take risks based on urges rather than careful calculation. Hard to calculate anything though when Jackie's skirt rides up her thighs as she sits on his bed.

.

He may have ruined his chances, but at least he has a warm memory to keep him cozy in his isolation. When he closes his eyes, he can still taste her mouth, sweet from candy canes and red wine and smell her strawberry-scented hair tinged with Jackie's own intoxicating natural scent. He can feel her velvet skin brush past his face and her firm body pressed up against him in urgency, hands grappling for him like a drowning swimmer to a life raft. He runs his fingers over his lips where she had been not 15 minutes earlier and curses his stupidity. Jesus, he's missed her. It may have been a dumb move for the long-term, but he's sure that memory is worth whatever punishment he has coming his way.

.

The door at the top of the internal staircase slams open with a bang and Hyde can hear one set of footsteps descend halfway and then stop suddenly. He can tell from the gait it's not Jackie, but he's really not in the mood to see anybody else, so he keeps his head down over his beer.

.

"Smooth move, dillhole" a voice from the top of the stairs grunts in his direction.

.

"I know I fucked up Donna. I don't need confirmation from you," he snarls, refusing to give her the courtesy of his attention.

.

He can hear her jog down the rest of the stairs and then rustle through the shower to grab something. Out of nowhere, he can feel the weight of something being placed squarely on his head from behind.

.

"I'm wearing the stupid helmet, right?" he asks, resigned to his fate.

.

"Oh yeah. It's like, totally yours until the end of the year Hyde," she informs him. "Unanimous vote".

.

Hyde finally turns to look at her. "What do you mean 'unanimous vote'? How many people did Jackie blab to?"

.

"Just me. I'm the one who blabbed it to everybody else. You sure stepped in it this time, Cassanova" she reprimanded, snatching the beer from his hand to drink herself.

.

"She was really upset, huh?" he asks sheepishly.

.

"Atomic," Donna circles around and drops like a rag doll next to her friend on the couch.

.

Hyde sulks quietly for a minute until a great epiphany overtakes him. He turns to Donna, rips the helmet off his head and hands it back to her. "Did you say she was atomic?" he asks, grinning like the village idiot.

.

"Like acid rain for 50 years atomic. That level." she tells him. "Why are you smiling?"

.

"Don't you get it?" he asks her excitedly? "Jackie hates me!" he announces with euphoria.

.

"Don't tell me you're happy about this," she warns. "If this is some kind of elaborate burn, I'm gonna..."

.

"If Jackie hates me, it means she still cares." he informs the blonde with a self-satisfied smirk as he crosses his arms over his chest. "I knew a kiss that mind-blowing couldn't be just a fluke".

.

"Oh God, you're not thinking..." Donna says with disgust.

.

"Oh, I most certainly am. And now that I know she still digs me, I'm not gonna stop until I do," he promises her smugly.

.

"Here we go again," Donna snorts as she rolls her eyes.

.

"Donna, do you know where she lives?" he asks.

.

"I'm not telling you that just so you can torture her again," she snaps, coldly shutting him down.

.

Hyde softens. "I don't want to torture her, Donna. I want her back." he says with sincerity. "Let's face it, even a moron like Kelso can see my life has gone down the crapper since Jackie and I broke up, and I'm just not that interested to find out how much lower I can go. Mainly because I know the bottom is still a far ways off."

.

Donna looks at him fearfully. "The bottom is a far way off? After months of 24 hour drunkenness, countless slut-hookups, a failed marriage to a stripper and a year wearing a freaking porn-stache you still haven't hit bottom?" she cries in horror. "Jesus, Hyde!"

.

"Yeah, see that's why I need her back. She's like, my pink-sequined, Blondie-loving, fine-assed rope ladder out of this hell-hole I call my life" he insists. "So can I have her address or what?"

.

His blonde friend's mouth settles into a hard line as she looks at him with disappointment. "Well, as long as this is about what Jackie needs" she says sarcastically. "So far, you've given me a lot of compelling reasons why your life would be better with her in it, but not one reason why you would be good for her," she scolds. "In fact, I'm not quite sure you are, despite how great you look in a pair of jeans."

.

Hyde's brow furrows as his grin gently falls from his face. "I didn't think about it that way," he says thoughtfully as he reaches for the stupid helmet on Donna's lap and puts it back on his head.

.

"Look Hyde, you know I think you're great, but you can be pretty selfish when it comes to Jackie. You cheat and expect her forgiveness, yet when she _doesn't _cheat, she deserves none of yours. You're happy to take her declarations of love and her presents, but never willing to tell her you care about her or give her anything in return. I could go on..." she says, sparing no mercy.

.

"Not necessary. I think I got it. You think I'm a raging asshole who doesn't deserve her, and you'd be right," he shrugs, giving up the fight.

.

"No, I think you're an asshole who_ could _deserve her IF you're willing to get up off of your lazy butt and change! Stop giving up on her all the time like a beta male! You want your life to be better? Jackie's not going to make it better for you—you are. Turn yourself into the guy Jackie deserves and I'll do whatever I can to help you," she proposes.

.

"You mean that, Big Red?" he says, touched by her faith in him.

.

"It's a promise" she says as she removes the helmet from his head and places it on the table.

.

"The thing is, she knew who I was when she got involved with me. I am who I am and it's not like I didn't warn her," he says.

.

"You can't act like a teenager for the rest of your life, and you don't stop being 'Hyde' just because you decide to grow up. Nobody stays the same, life is supposed to change you but you've been too stubborn to let it and now you're falling behind" she explains gently. "Maybe Jackie was happy to take you the way you were knowing that one day you'd grow into the kind of man she deserves? Ever thing about it that way? She was investing in you, dillhole, just like you were investing in her-even if you didn't realize it" Donna complains. "Think about how different she is from before she fell in love with you."

.

"I guess she has changed a lot" he muses.

.

"You started out dating a materialistic, spoiled girl who liked unicorns and demanded perfection and by the time you broke up, she had turned into a woman. A more grounded, realistic, more charitable and slightly-less abrasive woman whom you helped make," she says. "And don't feel bad, because you're not the only idiot who didn't take notice. I'm guilty of it as well," she complains bitterly. "We both failed".

.

Hyde thinks long and hard about Donna's tirade. Deep down, once he muscles past his sizable pride, he knows she's right. Jackie did change for him, he demanded it from her, yet he did very little to change for her. "If I take your deal, will you give me her address?" he asks hopefully.

.

Donna pounds the rest of Hyde's beer and stands. "Yeah, she's about 50 feet to your right" she says, pointing at the stairs. "You probably were too busy trying to hump her to notice, but we kind of got snowed in tonight. She's waiting it out at my house for a few days," she says as she sashays up the basement stairs that lead to the driveway.

.

"Pinciotti!" Hyde calls out.

.

Donna turns back to look at him.

.

"Thanks" he says softly as she turns to walk out the door.

.

* * *

.

Hyde walks back into his small room and sits in the chair facing his bed feeling dejected. The only evidence that Jackie was ever in his dark hovel is a small, heart-shaped indenture in his mattress from where her bottom had been.

.

He traces the silhouette of her ass with two fingers, then places his hand in the middle, imagining he can still feel her residual warmth there.

.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices the note pad Jackie dropped on the floor as she was fleeing from his room. He flips it open and looks at the questions that are written within. As he rereads them, he suddenly realizes that they only number up to #15, and the back five questions were clearly made up on the fly. He was kind of hoping some of those rougher ones were dreamed up by somebody else.

.

His finger hovers over question #10 and brushes gently over the words 'love of your life' as he ponders what exactly that means to him.

.

Donna is right, he decides, He really isn't very good for Jackie, not as is, at least. A year ago he'd have called her a bitch and laughed at the notion that he needed improvement. One thing he can't dispute though are the facts. She didn't cheat, he did. She may have gone to Chicago, but she came straight back when she thought he still wanted her and then waited a month for him to return home from Vegas. She pushed him to be better and he just pushed her away.

.

Shame starts to overtake Hyde's spirit, darkening his features. Maybe he was just too young or fucked up to realize what he had, but he sure as hell knows how he's felt since he lost it. Jackie was the one person who had the guts to pull back the curtain obscuring his dark soul and never once flinched when she saw what lurked there.

.

He pinches the edge of the wide-ruled page, violently rips off the question sheet and wads it up into a tight ball that he tosses expertly into the trash can across the room. Hyde frees the pen from the spiral cage of the notebook, clicks the ball point down and puts the pen to the paper.

.

"_20 Questions_" he writes at the top of the page, and then eagerly starts numbering the rows downward in left margin.

.

* * *

**.**

Clad in only a towel, Jackie Burkhart walks into Donna's bedroom after taking a much needed hot shower. It feels strange to be back in this room again, after having lived here like a second daughter for those few years she spent in the wilderness. She hadn't realized how much she missed Bob until she saw his curly 'fro peeking out from behind the back of the couch tonight.

.

As soon as he noticed her standing there, he gave her a much warmer welcome than she felt she deserved, having abandoned him after benefiting from his love and care when she most needed it. When she had nobody, he stepped-up and became her dad. He was there for her like he was for his own daughter and made little distinction between the two girls. When Jackie was sad, he cried with her, and when she achieved things, he beamed with a parent's pride. She suddenly felt extremely guilty for vanishing from his life after he had given her so much of his.

.

Jackie plops down on the familiar cot and realizes she feels happy for the first time in a long while. Sure, her evening ended on a sour note, but she was here now and this felt like home. Funny how she complained so much when she lived there, never realizing it would turn out to be the one place she felt most comfortable. She's glad Bob changed his mind about moving, and not just because it spared Floridians the daily visual of Bob wearing a speedo.

.

Just then Donna walks in carrying two mugs of cocoa. "Are you cold?" she asks. "I thought maybe you'd want one. It's still your favorite, right?" she says, extending one of the mugs in Jackie's direction.

.

Jackie accepts the peace offering and lifts her glass in thanks before taking her first sip. "So good" she sighs, as she feels the warm liquid run down her throat and pool in her belly.

.

"I try" Donna smiles as she sits Indian-style on the edge of her bed. "I figured you might need a little treat after the night you had".

.

Jackie scrunches up her face in thought. "It wasn't such a bad night, actually" she claims. "Not overall".

.

Donna is surprised. "You seemed so upset when you ran out of the basement, I thought for sure you'd be all the way to Kenosha by now," she jokes.

.

"I was upset, but I'm not anymore. Besides, I actually had fun before all of that Steven business happened. It was nice being with everybody the way we used to, before...you know. Before Chicago," she says thoughtfully.

.

"I agree. This was the first time in ages it felt normal down in the basement. Who knew that you were the glue that held the gang together?" she says, thinking out loud.

.

"I did, of course" Jackie brags.

.

Donna throws a pillow at her and then hops off her bed. "I'm going to get some more marshmallows," she says as she heads towards the door.

.

As her hand reaches the handle, she notices something on the floor beneath her,a small white square.

.

"What is that?" Jackie wonders aloud.

.

Donna picks it up and looks at it strangely. "It's one of those origami-folded notes we used to pass in class," she smiles as she turns it over and reads Jackie's name printed on it. "Looks like this one is for you."

.

Donna passes the note to the tiny brunette who receives it with a suspicious eye, leaving it sitting in the palm of her hand.

.

"You're not going to open it?" Donna prods curiously.

.

Jackie opens the intricately folded paper and spreads it out on the bed next to her. Instantly, she recognizes the handwriting and smirks at the text within:

.

_Like a big vacuum _

_My actions totally sucked_

_Forgive me again?_

.

Jackie concentrates on the note for a moment and then breaks out in hysterical laughter.

.

"What?" Donna asks eagerly.

.

Jackie leans forward and hands the paper to her friend. "Steven wrote me a haiku," she giggles. "It's much nicer than the last one though" she admits.

.

"He's nothing if not creative" Donna smiles to herself, proud of Hyde for showing ingenuity. "So...are you going to forgive him?" she asks, handing it back.

.

Jackie shrugs. "Probably. I always do, right?" she sighs as she imagines banging her head against the wall. "Besides, on the Steven scale of transgressions, this is only about a six," she surmises.

.

Donna cocks her head to the side as she watches Jackie lovingly fold the note back up. "You sure that's the only reason?" she asks her friend directly.

.

Jackie tries to hide a coy grin. "Well...as pissed as I am about it...I can't deny that kissing him felt kind of...not bad" she says, refusing to give it more credit than that.

.

"Not bad, eh?" Donna says laughing. "Funny, he described it as mind-blowing".

.

Jackie's head jerks up. "Did he?" she asks, unable to suppress the smile within. "That's...cool" she adds in Zen fashion as she places the note under her pillow.

.

**A/N - Sound off in the review section-anons and old-timers welcome!**


	6. Chapter 6

**SMUT ALERT! ****This chapter is rated M for dirty stuff - t****he last scene in this chapter features a pretty hot and heavy flashback, so be on your toes if you're trying to avoid that kind of business.**

**********.**

**********PS-The song "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash was on Combat Rock (1982) not London Calling (1979) but for the purposes of this ff, we're going to play make believe and pretend it was released in '79.**

**.**

**CHAPTER 6**

.

"I answered all of your questions. Don you think it's only fair that you answer some of mine?" Hyde pushes.

.

"Not really. You're forgetting that I beat you at poker. You haven't beaten me at anything, Steven, and until you do-these lips are sealed" she holds an imaginary key to her mouth and pretends to lock her lips, then smirks at him.

.

Hyde shakes his head at Jackie's brazenness. She's certainly never been a pushover, so what exactly was he expecting? "That's mature" he says, trying to goad her into action.

.

Jackie just looks at him with her wide, expressive eyes, points to her sealed lips and shrugs innocently.

.

Jackie is toying with him now and he can tell she seems to be digging it. Being played like a harp and it's kind of turning him on.

.

"So what? You're not talking to me?" he asks.

.

She gives Hyde a confrontational look and presses her long, elegant index finger against her plush lips and smiles. He's pretty tempted to put something else against that pretty mouth, but that's what got him in trouble with her in the first place.

.

"So what I'm getting from this is you would answer the questions, but not unless I beat you at something first?" he asks.

.

She takes her index finger and touches the end of her button nose. Bingo.

.

"Easy. Let's play a game of pickup," he suggests, gesturing to the basketball hoop.

.

Jackie looks at him like he's crazy and places a flat hand just above her head, indicating her short stature.

.

"Oh right. I forgot you're a midget. Hmm. Well, we're in the kitchen. Why don't we have a bake-off?" Hyde offers.

.

Jackie's expression is pained as she sucks on her bottom lip.

.

"What? Is that a no?" he groans, disappointed that she's shut down another idea.

.

She's touched by his effort, so she rewards him with a smile and two thumbs up.

.

Hyde nods. "Well okay then. We have one hour, and the chef who makes the best brownies wins. A blind taste test will determine the winner," he decrees as he extends his hand out to her.

.

She ponders the contest for a moment, then wordlessly shakes his hand, retracting it a little too soon for Hyde's preference.

.

* * *

.

Jackie and Hyde tensely bake next to each other in silence, occasionally looking up at one another to check for progress.

.

Observing from the kitchen table are Eric, Donna and Fez.

.

"On the left side of the green we have Jacqueline Burkhart, hailing from Point Place, Wisconsin. Jackie is known for a baking technique that results in cookies with the fluffy consistency of Milwaukee Admirals hockey pucks," Eric announces in the calm, whispery voice of a golf commentator into an imaginary microphone.

.

Jackie shoots Eric a dirty look as Donna stifles a giggle.

.

Eric continues, undeterred. "We're told that Jackie, known within the competitive cooking world as "Baking Beula" is creating a traditional brownie containing walnuts".

.

Incensed by the use of her middle name, Jackie takes an egg and pegs it at Eric's forehead, scoring a direct hit.

.

"Ow!" he cries.

.

"Ah BURN!" screams a gleeful Fez.

.

Donna and Fez and Hyde all lose their minds laughing at him. Jackie then takes a dish towel and throws it at Eric's head.

.

"Thank you?" Eric mumbles from underneath the towel.

.

"Nice one, Beula" Hyde nods with admiration towards Jackie.

.

She tightens her grip on another egg and shoots an eyebrow up in his direction, daring him to say something else.

.

Fearing her wrath, he puts his head down quickly and continues to bake. Jackie relaxes her grip on the egg and smiles in conquest.

.

Eric begins his commentary again. "Jacqueline's competitor, Steven J. Hyde, is a former graduate of the prestigious Johnson and Wales culinary school...oh wait...correction...Steven is a former 'restaurant' cook of the non-prestigious Howard Johnsons hotel chain. Steven likes the color black, breaking things and the heavy use of 'oregano'. Today he will be making his special peppermint holiday brownies."

.

"How much longer until brownie time?" Fez whines.

.

Donna takes a mini candy cane out of the bowl in the middle of the kitchen table and slides it to Fez. "They have 30 minutes left" she says, pointing to the clock.

.

* * *

.

Jackie and Hyde stand eagerly holding platters piled up with their creations. They both set their plates down on the table and wait for judgment.

.

"Let's first begin with Ms. Burkhart. Donna, get the milk ready please," Eric warns her, fearing these things will be tough to get down.

.

Donna nods and pours milk for all three of them. Fez, Donna and Eric each take one of Jackie's brownies and hum with approval.

.

"Jackie, these are actually really good!" Donna cries in total shock. "When did you learn to bake?"

.

"Yes, the chocolatey goodness of this one really sings to me, Eric," he critiques.

.

"I concur" Eric says, writing something down on a blank pad.

.

Jackie smugly grins at Hyde, daring him to beat her brownie, but Hyde looks confident and unaffected.

.

"And now, Mr. Hyde will present us with his creation," Eric nods.

.

Hyde slides the platter forward and lets them each pick up a brownie.

.

There is total silence as each judge tastes his brownie.

.

Donna, Eric and Fez all exchange knowing looks.

.

"Hyde wins!" Eric announces.

.

"We concur!" Donna and Fez shout in unison.

.

Hyde looks over at Jackie and gloats.

.

"What? What just happened here?" Jackie angrily storms over to the table. "How on earth did I lose this? I'll have you know, I cheated! I used a box Duncan Hines mix. There's no way Steven's brownies are better than Duncan Hines," she complains.

.

She lifts a brownie from Hyde's platter and takes a big bite. Four chews into the bite she has a realization and narrows her eyes towards her competitor in anger.

.

Hyde lifts his hands in defense. "The rules never said we couldn't use secret ingredients. And besides, you cheated, Beula." he mocks, earning him an egg to the forehead.

.

Jackie feigns anger, but is in reality secretly happy about losing this contest. She's been having fun with her old friends, playing games like they did when their lives were less complicated. She cheated because it was the only full-proof way of losing to Hyde and continuing the holiday fun.

.

Suddenly, Kitty walks into the kitchen. "Why, what do we have here? You all have certainly been busy bees."

.

"Just making the holiday more festive, Mrs. Forman," Hyde says wearing his trademark smirk as he wipes himself off with a towel.

.

Kitty laughs. "It's nice to see you in the holiday spirit Steven! In fact, I'm going to try one of your special holiday brownies, because I'll bet they're just delicious," she coos at her surrogate son as she bites into one of his brownies while passing through to the fridge.

.

"They really are," Donna agrees while starting to eat her second one.

.

"Hey-brownies!" Red says as he passes by the table, lifting a few on his way to the garage.

.

"Merry Christmas, man!" Hyde shouts as he makes panicked eye contact with Eric, who has no idea what to do.

.

* * *

.

Jackie sits on the stoop of Donna's house and stews. "He totally cheated, Donna".

.

"You totally cheated, Jackie" she laughs.

.

"Yeah? Well...his cheating is worse, because he got Mr. and Mrs. Forman high," she asserts.

.

"Can't argue with you there," Donna concedes.

.

Hyde notices the girls on Bob's stoop and heads over there. As he approaches Jackie from across the driveway, he almost has to pinch himself to keep his focus. Somehow she manages to get more beautiful every time he sees her, and he's drawn to that beauty like Gollum to his precious ring. He should thank Eric for that metaphor later.

.

Quickly becoming a man possessed, Hyde is starting to freak the hell out. He wouldn't allow himself to want her for so long, and now that he's given up that fight, it's almost like the dam has broken loose and he's finding it hard to control his desire.

.

"Hey" Hyde says softly as he kneels down beside Jackie.

.

"Hello Steven" she answers coolly.

.

"As the winner of the contest, I believe I'm entitled to certain privileges," he starts.

.

"And what might those be?" she asks, thoroughly enjoying making him work for it.

.

"Well" I have my first question for you," he says.

.

"Don't you mean second?" she corrects. "You asked me your first question last night in your bedroom,"she reminds him.

.

"We're counting that?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

.

"You don't think we should...?" she says, waiting to see what he'll do.

.

Hyde thinks for a second. "Fine. Are you ready?"

.

Jackie does a victory cheer inside of her head, but remains placid on the exterior. A minor win over Hyde is nearly as difficult as beating him at Stratego. "Ready as I'll ever be".

.

"#2 – I'm going to ask you something similar to what you asked me. What is your guilty pleasure band and why?"

.

"All the bands she willingly admits she likes are embarrassing, so this should be interesting," Donna decides.

.

Jackie has a sudden flashback to the very end of the summer that she and Hyde got together.

_._

* * *

_._

_(Jackie's flashback)_

_._

_They had been messing around for two months, and there truly was nothing fun to do in Point Place but smoke up, have sex, and play cards. As they were usually the only two in the basement, their card games had lately taken on a riskier bent. Instead of money, the gambling pot usually contained chits for things like back massages, small sexual favors, household chores, dares and the like. The more creative and embarrassing, the better. As the summer grew hotter, so did their bets._

_._

_One day in Hyde's room, after a particularly brutal loss for Jackie playing Black Jack, Hyde follows routine by blindfolding Jackie and forces her to draw her form of payment from the pot. As Hyde ties the silk scarf around her eyes, she can't help but think of other, more interesting ways he could be tying it on her. Maybe it's because she's always been so in control, but something about being so vulnerable is turning her on big time. She decides at that moment that the bondage fantasy would definitely be going into the pot next._

_._

_Jackie finds her way towards the pot by touch, feeling freer than she ever has. Something about Hyde makes her want to be bad, to claw her way outside of the vanilla box she had been deposited into at birth. Feeling his breath caress the back of her neck as he guides her hand into the pot, her skin begins to prickle and flush throughout. This is freaking hot and she can't wait to find out what dirty deed he has in store for her this time. The anticipation has always been the best part for her, and ever-accommodating, Hyde likes to take his time dishing out the instructions. There truly are no losers in their game of cards._

_._

_She pushes her hand deep into the pot and retrieves a tightly folded square of paper. Hyde gently brushes his lips across hers before lifting the blindfold off of her eyes. Jackie eagerly opens the chit and a sly grin spreads across her face._

_._

"_You want me to dance for you?" she asks, her heart leaping out of her chest. "What kind of dancing?" she asks seductively._

_._

_He purses his lips, waiting for her to figure it out on her own._

_._

"_...okay. What will I be wearing?" she wonders, letting the idea alone get her hot._

_._

_Hyde leans over and pulls out a t-shirt from his bottom dresser drawer and tosses it to her. "The Clash – London Calling" it says, emblazoned across the front. _

_._

"_You want me to dance for you in a dirty old punk t-shirt?" she asks quizzically. "You're not interested in lingerie like normal guys?"_

_._

"_I'm not a normal guy" he counters._

_._

"_But Steeeven" Jackie pouts, uninspired by his choice._

_._

"_You lost doll, so you've gotta do what I say" he demands, unyielding._

_._

"_Whatever" she mumbles as she gestures for him to turn around. "Which music should I use?" she asks._

_._

"_Ladies choice" he grins, willing to throw her a bone. "Except disco, of course"._

_._

* * *

.

(back in the present)

.

This is a loaded question, Jackie thinks as Hyde waits for her response. With their history, just about every song released between 1975-80 could send him the wrong message. A memory minefield.

.

Finally, Jackie gets up the nerve to speak. "My favorite guilty pleasure band is the Clash" she says quietly, then promptly dashes inside Donna's house, shutting the door tightly behind her.

.

Hyde's mouth drops open as he stands there dumbfounded.

.

"What did that mean?" Donna asks, wondering what strange vibe is hanging in the air between them. This song obviously means something to them, but what?

.

Hyde shrugs. "You've got me, man" he says as he makes a quick exit, leaving Donna befuddled.

.

He all but runs into the basement, past Fez and Eric who are lounging there, and locks himself in his bedroom. He rushes to his record collection, pulls out London Calling and turns the player on, ready to remember.

.

* * *

.

_(Hyde's flashback)_

.

"_You lost doll, so you've gotta do what I say" he demands, unyielding._

_._

"_Whatever" she mumbles as she gestures for him to turn around. "Which music should I use?" she asks._

_._

"_Ladies choice" he grins, willing to throw her a bone. "Except disco, of course"._

.

_Hyde turns around and closes his eyes, excitement building in his chest. He wasn't lying when he said he's not like most guys. Any chick can wear a teddy and be sexy, but he's got a hunch his chick can rock a dirty tee -his dirty tee- and blow them all away. _

_._

_The fact that he gets to force her to listen to music she hates only makes the re-payment sweeter, because he knows that the worse she considers the music to be, the more she must really like him to actually go through with it. She's willing to embarrass herself to (what in her terrible opinion is) crap music just to turn him on, and THAT is the definition of sexy, in his book._

_._

"_Okay" Jackie says nervously as she drops the needle on the record._

_._

_She grabs him by the collar and forces him to sit on the edge of the bed as he hears the familiar guitar riff from The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" emanate from the speakers._

_._

"_Open your eyes" she purrs as she strikes a sexy pose in nothing but the Clash t-shirt and a pair of tiny, pink underwear with the word "Friday" written across the ass._

_._

"_Shit" he says under his breath as his heart begins to race. He wasn't fucking wrong about his hunch, Jackie is a knock-out. _

_._

"_Darling you've got to let me know...should I stay or should I go?_

_If I go there will be trouble...and if I stay there will be double._

_So you've got to let me know...should I stay or should I go"_

_._

_As she dances seductively to the song she includes a few of his favorite cheerleader moves, flashing him "Friday" (now his favorite day) more than a few times as she bends over, teasing him. Jackie is enjoying this a lot. Who knew such a kinky minx was hidden under the thin polyester of that cheerleader's uniform?_

_._

_He silently curses her for choosing such a long song as he feels his jeans getting tighter and less comfortable._

_._

_As the song comes to an end, Jackie climbs up onto Hyde's lap and straddles her boyfriend, finishing the routine with a lazy, devastating kiss. "Can I take this nasty thing off now?" she pants, still out of breath from her aerobics._

_._

_Gobsmacked, all Hyde can do is nod yes and watch in awe as his pixie goddess removes his shirt at an achingly slow pace before rolling it up into a ball and tossing it into his waste paper basket. _

_._

_Jackie rubs the back of her hand across her forehead as if wiping her brow."I feel much better now that I have that nasty thing off," she smirks, now clad in nothing but her "Friday" undies and what God gave her. She then starts to unbuckle his belt and slides his jeans down to his behind._

_._

"_Do you now?" Hyde asks, finally regaining his voice._

_._

_Before she can answer, he flips her onto the mattress, pinning her under him. Watching her squirm beneath his frame, he presses his forehead to hers and looks deep into her soul._

_._

_Jackie's breath hitches as he trails wet kisses down her body, never leaving her gaze. _

_._

"_Steven" she gasps, breathless from the intensity of the moment. _

_._

_He runs one hand down her body, as her nipples pucker beneath his touch. Without breaking eye contact, Hyde slips two fingers inside of her, causing a soft moan to float from her lips._

_._

_As he moves his fingers back and forth inside of her, he teases her nipples with his tongue, his teeth, his fingers, reveling in the feel of her entire body. Sex alone isn't enough for him tonight, he feels like he needs to consume her. He crashes his lips against hers as she breathes staccato into his mouth, her climax building._

_._

"_You're so beautiful, Jackie. I'm so fucking lucky you're mine," he breathes, getting unbelievably worked up while getting her off._

_._

_Just as she's about to reach the peak, he withdraws his hand suddenly, causing her to recoil painfully from it's cold absence._

_._

_Jackie yelps angrily as she digs her fingers into his back. "What are you doing?" she hisses at him._

_._

_He grabs her hips and pulls her up against him. "I want to feel you from the inside when you cum"._

_._

_With that, Hyde pulls out his erection and slides it into his girl with a groan, stroking the fire already burning within her core, already on the brink._

_._

_On contact, Jackie gasps "Oh my God. Steven! I-" but is cut off by the tidal wave of pleasure that overtakes her body._

_._

_That night they made love for the first time. They had enjoyed plenty of sex with each other before then, but things altered between them after this. They weren't just fooling around anymore, their fling had turned into something different and real._

_._

* * *

.

(back in the present)

_._

Hyde turns the record player off and puts the vinyl back into its sheath. Even thinking about that night is putting him sexually on edge.

.

He wonders what message Jackie's trying to send him by choosing The Clash as her answer. She obviously wanted him to remember that night, so it means something. Maybe he was the one sending a message with this question, trying to prompt her into revealing something about the way she feels through her answer? It's sometimes hard to tell with her who is playing whom, because often they're both trying to be the puppet-master at the same time.

.

All he knows is, once she's his again, he's done playing games.

.

**A/N- How did I do? Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hope you all had a happy 4th! Thanks for all of the reviews. I've never had so many this quickly for any of my stories and they are making my day. **

**.**

**CHAPTER 7**

.

Donna steps through her front door, only to find Jackie sitting in fetal position shoving mince pies into her mouth.

.

"What happened out there?" Donna asks her petite friend.

.

Jackie shoves another mince pie into her mouth whole and mumbles "I don't wanna talk about it".

.

"I do" Donna pipes in. "This is better than 'Days of Our Lives'!"

.

"I just—I don't know what's come over me. I spent a whole year trying to purge myself of that prick and now I'm just falling for his whole act again - hook, line and sinker," she says angrily as she downs a glass of milk.

.

"What do you mean" Donna hedges.

.

Jackie rolls her eyes at her friend. "I think I know him well enough to tell when he's up to something. And I know you well enough to tell when you're covering for him".

.

"Okay, so what if he were up to something?" she ventures.

.

"I've worked too hard to go backwards. He's just bad news, Donna. He never cared about making me happy and he probably wouldn't know how, even if he did," she frowns then takes another bite of the pie.

.

"Jackie, he's changed a lot over the past year," Donna defends him.

.

"I'm not mad anymore really, well not at him at least. I get it now. When a guy tells you who they are—you should just listen and not try to change them or -God forbid- make them live up to their potential," she says drolly. "When Steven told me he wasn't the kind of guy who says the right things or buys presents or tells you he loves you, I should have run the other way. I don't know if it was arrogance or dumb optimism, but it was entirely my fault" she admits, shoving the remainder of the pie in her mouth. "I guess I just wanted it to work so badly I pretended he was capable of being more than he is."

.

"He is capable. I honestly believe that. Maybe not before Chicago, but I think that whole experience made him grow up a lot," she says.

.

"Well for his sake, I hope that's true and I'm sure it'll make his next girlfriend very happy, but it doesn't really have anything to do with me. I'm over it." she announces curtly.

.

Donna gingerly perches herself on the edge of the couch cushion next to the brunette. "Jackie...put down the pies" she says slowly, the way a cop might talk down a hostage perp.

.

"I don't wanna" she huffs.

.

"Getting fat isn't going to make you more 'over it' you know" Donna warns.

.

Horrified and offended, Jackie screams "Shut your mouth! Look, I said I'd stay here a few days and then I'm gone. I just have to resist his sickening charm until then and I'll be golden," she decides.

.

"You're pretty bad at that. No offense" Donna responds.

.

"It's a good thing I have you to help me then" she says.

.

Donna finds she's unwittingly bumbled her way into the middle of this whole mess without even trying. Hyde thinks she's going to help him get Jackie back, and Jackie thinks she's going to help her push Hyde away. She can either piss off one of them or both of them, but either way, she's not getting out of this unscathed.

.

"I'm not going to let Steven Hyde mind-fuck me ever again. I'm just going to crawl up into his brain, light up a doobie and then rewire the whole damn thing. He won't know down from up once I'm through with him," she threatens.

.

"You're a truly frightening little girl, you know that?" Donna observes uneasily.

.

"Damn straight I am" Jackie says menacingly.

.

The doorbell rings and Jackie can feel her spine stiffen with fear and anticipation.

.

"Who's there?" Donna screams through the door.

.

"It's London Calling!" Eric answers cheekily from the other side, sending both he and Donna into hysterics.

.

Donna lets him inside and greets him with a kiss. He's holding a box which he places on the side table.

.

Eric looks at Jackie and calmly points a finger at her. "Burn".

.

"He told you about that?" Mortified, Jackie whimpers and tries to hide behind her hands. "What did he say?"

.

Eric lies, trying to extract some information. "He said you...I think he said that you...The Clash is...alright, I've got nothing," he admits with disappointment.

.

"Ew, Eric. You're not even good at lying. How am I supposed to respect you now after this little...display?" she emerges from behind her hands then looks at him as if he smells.

.

"I guess lying doesn't come as naturally to me as it does to others," he says in deadpan.

.

"I'm sorry" she responds, genuinely feeling bad for his lack of skill. "I forgot".

.

"Yeah well, I came by to let you all know that lunch is in an hour and if you're not both there, my mom will be so distraught she'll throw herself down the stairs," he says. "She actually did say that and I haven't decided yet if she's exaggerating".

.

"We'll be there" Donna confirms.

.

Eric nods. "Better safe than sorry".

.

Jackie groans, not wanting to go.

.

"Oh!" Eric puts an index finger in the air. "I almost forgot" he picks the box up from the table. "This is for you from Hyde," he sighs, looking a bit grossed out that the two are getting friendly again. He passes the gift to her through pinched fingers, as if passing something radioactive.

.

Jackie takes the present, full of confusion until she reads the attached note.

.

**"_Your guilty pleasure is our little secret. _**

**_Wouldn't want to deprive you of anything you secretly love. _**

**_Your pal, _**

**_SJH"_**

**.**

She strips the paper off of the box, opens it clumsily and finds The Clash album and t-shirt, lovingly folded on top.

.

Jackie doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Arrogant bastard" she sulks.

.

"He wanted me to tell you that question #3 is taped to the front of the album," Eric explains as he walks towards the front door. "You two don't really waste time picking up your kinky shit right where you left off, huh?"

.

Donna pushes Eric out of the door before Jackie has a chance to unload on him.

.

Jackie grabs the album and looks at the post-it containing the next question.

.

**"_#3- How do you get men to do whatever you want when you're so busy infuriating them? _**

**_Are you dabbling in the 'dark arts'? (last part added by Forman)"_**

**.**

Jackie is irked by the smugness of the whole thing. The shirt, the album, the question—she is going to make him pay for all of it in spades. Inspiration strikes her like a thunderbolt. "Oh it is SO on," she glowers.

.

* * *

.

The Formans are hosting an informal lunch in their rarely used dining room.

.

Kelso, Brooke and Betsy are there, fresh from opening presents at Kelso's parent's house this morning. Donna and Bob sit near Eric, Pastor Dave and Fez, leaving just one seat open next to Hyde.

.

"How much longer do we have to wait for her?" whines Eric. "I'm not even sure they celebrate Christmas in hell," he reasons.

.

"Eric!" Donna harshly chastises him.

.

"Donna is right Eric, it's Christmas, and even if certain people are rude by showing up very late and making other hungry guests wait for scraps of food like homeless dogs, we should turn the other cheek and hold off until they get here. Just turn the other cheek!" Kitty repeats again manically, trying to convince herself.

.

Just then, Jackie bursts into the room in a tizzy. "I'm so sorry Mrs. Forman, everybody. I had a huge emergency and got a little held up," she explains breathlessly.

.

"Oh dear, what happened Jackie?" Kitty asks with concern.

.

"Donna's cheap curling iron broke" Jackie frowns. "probably because it was overtaxed from trying to get through all of her course hair."

.

"BURN!" screams Kelso as he points to Donna. "A hair burn!"

.

"Well, as long as it was something important" Hyde cracks.

.

"I happen to agree with Jackie that a broken curling iron is indeed a great emergency" Fez pipes in to defend her.

.

"Yeah, well you would" Hyde sneers.

.

"Now now Steven. Turn the other cheek!" Kitty laughs nervously.

.

"Yeah Steven" Jackie smirks then looks around and notices the only empty seat is next to Hyde and is instantly deflated. "You don't expect me to sit there do you?" she whines.

.

"No, we were actually hoping you could rearrange all of our seating to your liking, just to waste some more time before we get to eat," Eric explains.

.

"Oh would you, Eric? That would be amazing!" she squeals.

.

"Yeah, that would be a no," he shuts her down with glee.

.

"BURN!" Kelso screams, frightening Kitty with his suddenness.

.

"Will you idiots settle down so we can eat?" Red screams.

.

Jackie sighs and shuffles her way over to the empty chair. She makes eye contact with Hyde and then sighs again, disappointed. She unceremoniously unzips her short coat and tosses it over the back of her chair, revealing herself to be wearing extremely tight black jeans with her new Clash t-shirt that she's ripped the collar and sleeves out of to make it fall slightly off of one shoulder.

.

Hyde chokes on his beer when he sees what she's wearing. "You're trying to kill me" he says under his breath.

.

Hyde tries to avert his eyes to no avail. This is going to be a long meal.

.

"You gave it to me. It would be rude of me not to wear it, no?" she whispers to him, with a coyly.  
.

"Jackie...your outfit...so festive" Kitty says laughing through a tight smile with obviously disapproval in her voice.

.

"Yeah, well, I know it's probably not the best outfit to wear for our Christmas meal, being that these jeans are so tight I can't even wear underwear with them, but it's all I had with me," she explains faux-innocently.

.

"OH YEAH!" Kelso screams out, turned on by the information, which earns him a slap to the back of the head by Brooke.

.

"Ouch baby! It's just a reflex, okay?" Kelso apologizes.

.

"Yeah, well so was that" Brooke miffs.

.

"Can somebody please switch chairs with me? Mine is wobby." Jackie whines posting out her lip seductively.

.

Fez, Bob and Kelso both get up to offer her theirs, earning Kelso another slap from Brooke.

.

"Actually, Steven is sitting closest, so maybe he wouldn't mind" she bats her eyes in his direction.

.

"Why should I sit on the wobby chair?" he asks.

.

"Because you're a gentleman" she offers.

.

"You know that's bull...sorry Pastor Dave" Hyde nods towards him.

.

Pastor Dave holds his hand up and smiles. "Not a problem!"

.

"Well you are today" Jackie insists.

.

The two have a stare down for a minute while everybody watches them with baited breath.

.

"Fine" Hyde grumbles as he stands up and switches the chairs.

.

Jackie winks at Donna.

.

Kitty starts laughing nervously at the topic of conversation. "Okay kids, now that we've got Jackie's chair and underwear situation out of the way, I think we're good to start the meal now."

.

Everybody cheers.

.

Jackie leans over and places her hand on Hyde's upper thigh for support. "Steeeven" she whispers seductively into his ear, her soft lips gently grazing his earlobe as her warm breath ignites his core, causing him to noticeably shudder.

.

"Um..." he barely manages to get out before his throat dries up like the Salton Sea.

.

"Thanks for giving me the comfy chair" she coos, blowing hot air into his ear.

.

"No problem, I guess, though I can't even notice the difference" he admits.

.

She giggles softy against his neck as she places her other hand on his thigh as well. "Do you still want to know my answer to question #3?" she pouts.

.

He's suddenly snapped out of his reverie by the realization that he has just been played hard. His body stiffens as his head angles slightly in her direction. "You are such a bitch" he says under his breath, low enough to prevent others from hearing him.

.

Jackie smiles broadly with pride. "That's right. And you'd be smart to remember it" she pinches his cheek lightly.

.

"Okay Jackie, you want to be treated like a bitch, then you've got it!" he taunts.

.

"Have at it," she snaps back.

.

Hyde grabs Jackie by her upper arm and pulls her to her feet. "Will you all excuse us? Please go ahead and start eating without us, we might be a while," he announces as he drags her by the arm into the other room.

.

Everybody at the table is in shock, except for Pastor Dave who is oblivious oftelex colorful exchange.

.

"Can somebody pass the potatoes please?" Pastor Dave rings in merrily.

.

* * *

.

"Ouch. Damn Steven, are you trying to add assault to your police record?" she moans as he drags her into the basement.

.

"What was that bullshit in there?" he demands to know.

.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. You asked me a question and I answered it. You should be thanking me for being so thorough" she smiles.

.

"Are you trying to fuck with my head?" he asks.

.

"Well, now it really doesn't matter what my answer to that is, because if YOU believe I'm fucking with you, you'll think I'm lying either way" she surmises.

.

He paces back and forth a few times.

.

"Part of me thinks your reappearance is part of some carefully plotted, elaborate burn" he thinks out loud.

.

Jackie snorts. "Don't flatter yourself. You really think that I spent a year dreaming up ways to burn you? Get real!"

.

"I think I liked it better when you were gone" he says, trying to hurt her.

.

"Really? Because it didn't really seem like that yesterday when you had your tongue halfway down my throat" she challenges.

.

"Why are you so annoying? Why can't you just be more like other girls?" he begs.

.

"Do you really want me to be like other girls?" she asks, closing the space between them.

.

Jackie feels like she's being pulled by a force outside of herself. Every bone in her body is telling her to run like hell out of that room and never look back, yet here she is verbally sparring with Hyde, their twisted version of foreplay.

.

Hyde looks down and takes one of her hands in his, examining it as if it were a sculpture in a museum.

.

"I don't know. Sometimes I think it would be easier." he admits, his face contorted with a tortured look.

.

Jackie is mesmerized. His pained expression, the way he's admiring her wrist, his change in tone, she recognizes this affliction. She's only seen it a twice before, but both times were unmistakable.

.

Hyde brings the inside of her wrist to his lips and kisses her pulse point, almost absentmindedly like one might do with a lover- certainly not something a guy would do with an ex. It's at that moment she realizes that she not just of a piece of ass to him or a mountain he's trying to conquer. This is really happening, or maybe it never stopped happening in the first place. Steven isn't trying to be friends with her and he doesn't want to punish her. Steven is in love with her.

**.**

**A/N- Did I mention how much I love reviews?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Get ready for some angst! **

**.**

**CHAPTER 8**

**.**

As Jackie watches Hyde gently caress her wrist, she can't help but feel guilty about the prank she just pulled. Logically, she should be enjoying his distress since he caused so much of hers in the past, but try as she might to argue in favor of callousness, she just can't bring herself to disregard his hurt feelings. She laughs inwardly at her dilemma. She's got to be the only person who is ashamed they aren't _less_ empathetic, but it's who she is.

.

One thing she learned over the past year is that while habits can be broken, personality traits are unchangeable - though you can work around them if you pay attention. Just like a cactus, if you run your finger in the right direction it won't hurt much, but if you try to go against the grain you're going to get pricked badly.

.

As Jackie's chest painfully constricts, she realizes that she's been subconsciously holding her breath for the past minute. The look of intensity on Steven's face, his earnestness and sad eyes are fascinating to her, as she's only seen this side of him once before and it was years ago. The scene in front of her is so intimate she almost feels like she's intruding on her own life and breathing out now would only disrupt it, though she finally has no choice and exhales.

.

"Steven..." Jackie starts, unsure of how he'll respond. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you or toy with you...well, I did, but I'm sorry about it now. I guess I went to far. Shocking, I know." she says, trying to bring some levity into the room.

.

"You didn't embarrass me," he says, now rubbing small circles on her wrist with his thumb. "And you don't owe me an apology, but just so we're clear, I wasn't messing with you. I gave you that shirt and the album because I was hoping...I don't know," he says, finally dropping her arm.

.

Jackie's wrist feels suddenly heavier without his affection. "Hoping for what?" Jackie prods.

.

Hyde leans against the couch and readjusts his glasses. She can feel him start to shut down.

.

"No—wait. Don't do that. You always do that," she frowns.

.

"Do what?" he asks.

.

Jackie gestures from his head to his toes.

.

"You're going to have to be more specific" he claims.

.

"No. You know exactly what you're doing. You're uncomfortable with how this conversation is going, so you're removing yourself from it," she accuses him.

.

"I'm standing right here, Jackie," he says, as zen as ever.

.

"You are, but you're not!" she says, becoming frustrated. "You know what? I'm not sorry about messing with you before. You deserve it!" she snaps, turning to walk up the basement stairs back to the meal.

.

Just as she takes her first step, she feels a firm hand grabbing her wrist again, holding her back.

.

"What do you want, Steven? You brought me down here to yell at me and now you won't even let me storm off in peace - and for what? If you're not going to actually going to communicate, I'd like to get back to my lunch before it starts growing icicles." she huffs.

.

"Jackie, don't leave. Come on. Let's...can we knock out some more of those questions?" he asks nonchalantly, trying to open up in the safest way he knows how, by hiding behind something else.

.

Hyde can feel Jackie relent as the tension in her arm grows slack. He releases her wrist and she takes a seat in his chair.

.

"Let's get this over with" she says somewhat coldly, curious to see where this is headed.

.

Hyde moves around the couch and takes a seat on the arm closest to her. He brings his hand to his head and fumbles a bit trying to remember what he wanted to ask.

.

"Um...Question #4 – Did you ever cheat on me when we were together?" he asks.

.

Jackie rolls her eyes. "For a cheater, you certainly are overly concerned with people cheating on you".

.

His eyebrow rises suspiciously like an antennae. "You didn't answer the question".

.

Jackie exhales, exasperated by his constant distrust of her. "The answer hasn't changed since you asked me this the last time. The answer is no. I'm true to my boyfriends, even if they aren't always true to me," she responds, trying to glaze over her hurt so she'll appear strong.

.

Forging ahead, Hyde goes right into the next question. "Question #5- did you consider it? I know you didn't do anything with Kelso in Chicago, but did you want to?"

.

"No! Jesus. Who knew you were so insecure, Steven?" she jabs, hitting him where it hurts. "If you must know, I couldn't even imagine letting another guy touch me like that when we were together. I'm just not built that way, so I guess that's where you and I differ," she mutters, starting to get irked by his relentless paranoia.

.

"Staying with Chicago. Question #6- Do you ever regret giving up your job in Chicago?" he asks.

.

Jackie looks him squarely in the eye. "Honestly? Every fucking day. If you had come back from Vegas alone -even if we still didn't work out- my answer would be different. I gave up my dream job to sweep hair in a salon just so I could sit around and wait for you to remember that you loved me-which never happened. Instead you threw your stripper wife in my face and called _me_ a whore, like I was the one taking my clothes off for money or banging a different skank every weekend" she rants. "How could I possibly _not _regret making a decision that epically stupid?"

.

Hyde winces at the memory of his treatment of her and his lifestyle both before and after Sam left. It's so foreign to him now, that he can't even believe it was actually he who was doing it. About three months after Jackie left, when he realized she really wasn't coming back, he did a little self-assessment. Once Jackie was gone, his over-the-top behavior felt hollow. He finally understood then that he wasn't doing it because he was having fun (as he had claimed), he was doing it to get to her—and now that she was no longer there to torment, all that was left after a bender was a hangover and the strong aftertaste of self-loathing and shame.

.

He takes his sunglasses off and hooks them on his shirt and pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Between the six pack he drank earlier and the conversation he's having now, a migraine is brewing and it feels like somebody is shoving an icepick right behind his eyes.

.

"Look, I'm a big girl. I know it was my decision to give up on my dreams, but I did it for us. I'm aware it's not fair to resent you for something I chose to do myself, but I can't help it. Mostly though, I resent you for giving up on yourself. You were on your way to being something and you just threw in the towel—though I suppose I'm the one who drove you to it" she says quietly shaking her head.

.

"Jackie..." he croaks hoarsely, unable to formulate the right words.

.

"What's your next question Steven?" she asks numbly.

.

Hyde can barely breathe under the weight of his guilt. If somebody physically ripped his heart from his chest right now, it would probably hurt less than it does at this moment. How can she not blame him for her bad choices but still blame herself for all of his? He must have done such a number on her self-confidence if she actually believes this shit.

.

He can see clearly now that he ruined many of the things he loved so much about Jackie, like her optimism and her drive. He ran down her pride and abused her devotion to him. Sure, he's a bitter, lazy burn-out, with little respect for rules or humanity, but he never considered himself cruel until today. If he doesn't even have that going for him, the simple absence of a bad trait, is there anything worthwhile about his life?

.

And he was cruel. He knew he was doing it while it was happening, yet he couldn't stop himself. He drank heavily to keep the swelling tide of anger, want, lust and guilt at bay. None of it worked, because nothing made him feel better after he lost her, and punishing her for still holding his heart only injured him further. He figured he was going to find a way to be zen even if it killed him, and it almost did.

.

"Why did you even like me?" he wonders with the smallest voice Jackie's ever heard. "Consider that #7".

.

Jackie feels all of the breath leave her body. In front of her stands a strapping man, but deep within him lives a wounded little boy who still calls all the shots. Why can't he see what she saw in him? She wonders if this was their main problem all along.

.

Always a sucker for a broken man, her face softens. "I didn't like you Steven, I loved you. For some reason, as imperfect as you are, I loved you anyway" she explains plainly. "And I know I'm no picnic either, but you loved me despite all of that too. It's not like we had a choice. Some people are just like magnets that crash into one another, I guess."

.

She can see his eyes start to narrow as he takes in what she's saying. "You're too hard on yourself, doll, and you had way more to overlook than I did".

.

"You know, when you forget to be an asshole, you really can be the sweetest man" she says with a sad smile. "Like when you brought me to prom because I was sad about not having a date - and you didn't even like me very much at the time."

.

"You know that's not true" he says. "I always kind of liked you. I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't."

.

"Well, you went to jail for me and almost got kicked out of the Formans' house because of it, and you had nothing to gain there," she says. "Oh, and you also spent the day with me to cheer me up when I caught Michael cheating," she reminds him.

.

"You really think I did all of that for no reason?" he asks.

.

Jackie gives him a doubting look. "Steven, I basically threw myself at you and you wrote a nasty haiku telling me to 'die away from' you! You couldn't have been doing all of it just to get into my pants, because I offered you what was in there and you said no thanks. You have to face it, you're just a nice guy deep down...way, way, WAY deep down, but it's there," she insists.

.

Hyde scoots closer to Jackie and looks her in the eye. "Just because I said no, doesn't mean that wasn't on the agenda," he informs her, pointing to his head. "I was just a kid and I was scared, okay?

.

"I'll never understand why you hide away the very best parts of you. If you'd only show people the side of you that you've showed me, how could everybody not love you just as much as I did?" she asks rhetorically. "You can be such a bastard, but you can also be brave and loyal and just...God I wish you could get over what your parents did to you. Just because Edna was dumb enough to leave you doesn't mean she was right to. I mean, think about it- she's a drunk, slutty grifter who abandoned her own kid. Why the hell should you value her opinion about anything? She's lower than pond scum," Jackie reasons.

.

"What are you a shrink now?" he jokes.

.

"No Steven. I'm just an incredibly intuitive woman who knows you better than you know yourself" she says decisively. "So you'd be smart to take notes".

.

"I always cared what you thought about me" he offers, "Believe me, this isn't easy for me to ask out loud, but I need to hear it from you, because I know you'll tell me the truth."

.

"My opinion of you is complicated" Jackie rubs her forehead with one of her hands then clucks her tongue. "Oh, you're going to give me wrinkles and I'll never forgive you for it."

.

"Stop stalling," he frowns. "Consider this one #8".

.

"Okay, here goes-but just remember that you don't hit girls" she sighs. "You see everything in black and white, when life is mostly grey. You're never going to be happy until you get over that and learn to forgive people, because nobody's perfect and you're just setting yourself up for a big letdown. When we were together, and even before, you helped me grow up and taught me a lot about myself—stuff I didn't even realize was there, and I'll forever be grateful, but I don't like who I am when I'm around you anymore. You made me feel bad about myself, even when things were good between us you liked to keep me on edge and I just...I deserve better," she informs him. "I just can't be your punching bag anymore," she says. "But I think I can try to be your friend again".

.

"I'd like that. Jackie, I would give anything to take back the way I treated you. I know you probably don't believe me" he sighs.

.

"I believe you" she says simply. "I can tell you've changed. The old Steven wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place and he sure as hell wouldn't be asking me to tell him what I thought about him" she laughs at the notion.

.

"I'm pretty sure you always had more faith in me than I did" he says, trying to stay in control of his feelings.

.

"I still have faith" she smiles.

.

He nods his thanks.

.

Growing up Hyde, heard nothing but insults, so it's hard for him to believe nice things said to him when he doesn't even believe them about himself. If somebody said something complimentary to him, he always suspected they were after something from him.

.

But not Jackie. She wants nothing from him, she's made that much clear. He treated her like dirt for so long, yet here she is saying such nice things about him, sad that he can't recognize them for himself. He wonders if she's just seeing what she wants to see or if he's just really been that blind. It could be true though, right? Maybe?

.

Tears begin to sting his eyes, but he blinks them back and they never surface. He wishes for a moment he could be less stoic, like Forman, and just bawl his fucking eyes out unembarrassed, but he's not Forman. He's doesn't feel like Hyde now either, though. He isn't really sure who the hell he is anymore. His house of cards has never felt less stable.

.

Sensing his inner turmoil, Jackie decides he's had enough for now. "I'm hungry" she announces. "Would you mind if we took a break from this to eat? They're probably wondering what happened to us" she says, standing up.

.

Hyde nods wordlessly and guides her towards the to staircase, lightly brushing the small of her back with his hand for support. As they reach the bottom of the staircase, they're both suddenly very aware that this is the spot of their last encounter.

.

They both instinctively look up at the mistletoe and then back at each other. Hyde leans forward and gently places a soft, chaste kiss on Jackie's lips.

.

"Merry Christmas, Jackie" he says before following her up the stairs.

.

* * *

.

As Jackie and Hyde walk up the stairs, they come upon Eric and Donna, engaged in an intimate moment.

.

Donna is leaning against the wall with Eric pinned over her, whispering something in her ear that makes her giggle seductively as he runs his fingers lightly up and down her arm.

.

Both Jackie and Hyde look longingly at the pair. They were once like that. Why didn't they appreciate how easy life was then?

.

Jackie coughs loudly to draw attention to herself.

.

Donna's eyes widen with surprise. "There you are!" she screams. "We were looking all over for you dillholes!"

.

Jackie smirks. "You totally were not. We were in the basement and that's the first place you'd look," she says, calling her friend out on her BS.

.

Donna smiles guiltily. "Ya got me. We meant to, but we were...um...sidetracked," she says as she gently hip checks her boyfriend.

.

Jackie groans with disgust.

.

"So, ah, what kept you two down there so long," Eric wonders. "You weren't..."

.

"No!" Jackie squeals. "It's Christmas, Eric, we're not animals. And there's nothing like that between us anymore, we're just friends," she asserts, much to Hyde's subtle dismay.

.

Eric and Donna nod with obvious fake disbelief.

.

"Right. Because you guys are so great at being friends. Seriously, you have two modes I like to refer to as the 'crash and burn' and the 'drunken rabbit'. I think you get the gist of what they mean. So which one is it?" he demands to know, blocking their escape route.

.

"Honestly, it's neither of those" she insists.

.

Eric turns his eyes towards Hyde, who just holds up his hands in surrender. "What she said" he says. "If we were doing it, she'd look a lot more satisfied than that and if we fighting, I'd probably be missing a tooth and be limping by now" he rationalizes.

.

Satisfied with their answers, Eric lets them pass. "Good to hear it. Mainly because we ran out of bleach this morning and we're snowed in. Unfortunately, both modes would probably require bleach" he decides then looks at his friends. "Oh yeah, and burn. Actually, that's a chemical burn" he says enthusiastically, impressed by his own theme burn.

.

Donna giggles then pretends to be offended by his comment for Jackie's sake.

.

"Oh give it up, lumberjack!" Jackie scowls.

.

"We're only out of bleach Forman, because Donna asked me to help her disinfect her bedroom last night after you left," Hyde says with characteristic panache.

.

"Oh you are on fire, Eric. Buuuurn!" Jackie says as she skips towards the dining room, leaving a very satisfied Hyde in her wake, watching her ass move commando in those tight jeans.

.

Hyde takes a deep breath and follows her in.

.

Donna turns to Eric. "Hyde is soooooo fucked" she assesses.

.

"Yep" Eric agrees and he picks up where he left off with Donna.

**.**

**A/N - How'd I do? Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey. Just wanted to say LMFAO and thanks to the anon who left a review that said I was easing the pain of Danny M. ruining Hyde for her (I can barely watch his new show promos, so I totally get it!). I laugh every time I read your comment.**

**.**

**CHAPTER 9**

.

Jackie skips down the basement stairs wearing a very short, red velvet wrap dress with ornate, embroidered stitching around the entire border of the hemline. With it, she wears a pair of knee-high crocodile-print tan boots.

.

"Damn Jackie! That is a hot dress" Kelso hollers with enthusiasm.

.

Hyde looks up from his game of cards for a second and then quickly back down again for his own safety. With her looking that hot, he's likely to burn his retinas if he continues to stare.

.

"Ya think?" she asks coquettishly as she twirls for Kelso to get a good look. "It's my Christmas 'look'".

.

"Nothing says Christmas like alligator boots, I always say" jokes Eric.

.

"It is a really pretty dress, Jackie. Where'd you get it?" Donna asks as she gives Eric a neck massage.

.

"Oh, thank you. It's one of mine, actually. I made it" she says casually as she digs through her handbag for a hair comb.

.

"You made that? Like, with your own two hands?" Eric questions in disbelief.

.

"Yes Eric. Believe it or not, these hands are good for other things besides..." distracted by her search, she leaves the sentence unfinished, which only sends Hyde's brain into overload thinking of all of the things that Jackie's hands are good for.

.

"Found it!" she yells, pulling out an ornate hair comb encrusted with crystals from her cavernous bag. She pulls back the side of her hair, slides it in perfectly and strikes a pose. "You like?"

.

"You made that too?" Donna wonders.

.

"Duh!" she affirms. "It was part of an assignment at school to create an outfit for a modern day princess. Since tiaras are sadly a bit much for daily use, I thought this made a good alternative. Now I can feel like a princess every day" she says with delight as she runs her fingers along the gems.

.

"Wait-I didn't know you were going to school. Or that you designed clothes, for that matter," Donna mentions, perplexed. "You've been busy".

.

"I didn't realize how many hours I wasted in a day until I stopped coming to the basement. In the amount of time I spent here in a week I learned how to use a sewing machine " she beams. "The whole Christine St. George experience kind of put me off T.V.".

.

"Where are you going to school?" Donna asks.

.

"I've been going to the community college for about a year now and I just found out last week that I got into University of Chicago's design program, so I'll be transferring there in the Spring or Fall, I haven't decided which yet" she says.

.

At the mention of Chicago, Hyde's ears perk up.

.

Donna is incredibly impressed with Jackie and a little embarrassed at how little shows about her ex-best friend. How could she have not known anything about her talent at design-or her desire to go to college, for that matter? Jackie talks non-stop, so the only logical answer is that Donna never bothered to listen. In fact, thinking back, she realizes that she hasn't had one meaningful conversation with her friend since Jackie left for Chicago the first time.

.

"Wow Jackie that's such a big move" she says. "I mean, you don't know anybody there besides Kelso and Brooke, right?"

.

"Yeah, well, it's not like I have anything keeping me me here either though." she explains. "Sometimes I think it was fate that things didn't work out with Chicago the first time. Maybe I wouldn't have gone to college and discovered what I truly wanted to do otherwise," she says.

.

"Maybe. Who knew you had all of this talent?" Donna comments.

.

"I knew" Fez says while shuffling the cards. "Every Sunday night she'd help me pick out my clothes for the week".

.

"I miss that, Fezzy!" she pouts.

.

Her foreign friend looks up and gives her a knowing smile. "Me too".

.

Jackie saunters over to the card table and leans over Hyde, checking out his cards.

.

He notices her in his peripheral vision. "Do you mind?" he grumbles.

.

"You've been pretty quiet since I got here, Steven. Aren't you happy I finally changed out of those dirty punk clothes that were getting you so hot and bothered?" she taunts.

.

"Um, yeah, because what you're wearing now is just not sexy at all, so—thanks" he deadpans into his hand of cards, still unable to look at her.

.

Jackie sits down on the chair in-between Fez and Hyde and slams her hand on the table. "Deal me in" she demands.

.

"You don't even know what we're playing" he retorts.

.

"I'm good at everything" she insists. "Come on, I'm bored".

.

"I'll deal you in, Jackie" Kelso offers.

.

"Thank you Michael!" she blows him a kiss.

.

Hyde shoots him a look "We're right in the middle of a game, Kelso" he carps.

.

"Oh, I get it. You're chicken" Jackie nods her head solemnly.

.

Hyde winces with irritation. "That shit isn't going to work on me doll, so take it somewhere else" he gripes, waving his hand in the air like he's shooing a fly.

.

Jackie leans over and looks at Hyde's cards. "Don't know why you're so eager to stay in this game when you're only holding a pair of two's".

.

"Ah burn!" Fez blurts out.

.

Hyde shoots her an ominous look and slams down his cards.

.

"What? Now you're no longer in the middle of a game, so I can play" she preens.

.

"I'm gonna go hit the circle" Hyde says before standing up to get his stash from the bedroom.

.

Fez looks at Jackie and shakes his head. "You have no idea why you do the things you do, do you?"

.

She shifts in her chair sheepishly.

.

Kelso giggles. "That rhymed, man".

.

Jackie looks like she just bit into a bad nut. "No it didn't Michael".

.

Smoke slowly trails out from under Hyde's closed door. Feeling guilty, Jackie shoots Fez a glance, then stands up and walks towards Hyde's bedroom.

.

She hesitates for a moment before bringing her hand up to rap softly on the door.

.

"What?" Hyde barks from behind the barrier.

.

"Can I, um, come in?" she asks timidly.

.

"Jackie, I need a break" he declines.

.

"But I need to talk to you" she pleads.

.

"Get a clue" he barks.

.

"Open the door" she argues.

.

"Go away!" he yells.

.

"I'm coming in!" she insists.

.

"For Christ's sake, Jackie!" he bangs the door open so hard it almost falls off the hinges.

.

She smiles. "Thank you" she says sweetly as she calmly glides into his room. "That wasn't too hard, was it?"

.

Hyde makes eye contact with Forman, who shakes his head at the mess Hyde has gotten himself into, then shuts the door quietly behind himself.

.

Eric looks at Donna. "Awkward!" he sings as he continues rubbing her feet.

.

"Do you think one of us should go in and make sure they're both alive in 30 minutes?" she asks seriously.

.

"Well, in 30 minutes we're either going to have a 'crash and burn' incident or a 'drunken rabbit' situation and I'm not sure my psyche can handle walking in on either of those" he estimates. "For the record, I'd bet 20 bucks on him limping out of there by the time we have to go upstairs to open gifts".

.

"I'll put $20 on 'drunken rabbit'!" Kelso screams.

.

"I accept your wager, good sir" Eric says.

.

"No way. Jackie would kill him before she'd do it with him again" Fez predicts. "I'm in for $20 on 'crash and burn'".

.

Eric looks at Donna. "Your guess?"

.

"Well, I saw her consume an entire platter of mince pies earlier today because he got her all hot and bothered, so I'm going with the 'rabbit' for $20."

.

Eric twiddles his thumbs deviously. "...and now, we wait..."

.

* * *

.

Jackie stands hesitantly against the closed bedroom door.

.

Hyde angrily turns around to face his ex. "You really know how to counter-attack the effects of good weed" he sighs as he collapses into his chair and signals for her to sit on his bed.

.

"Sorry" she says bashfully. "That's why I wanted talk. I just wanted to say sorry. I know I was annoying in there".

.

Hyde is pleasantly surprised by her apology and passes her the joint. "If you're staying, you're smoking. If anybody needs to calm the fuck down, it's you" he decides.

.

Jackie nods and delicately takes a drag off of the joint before passing it back to him.

.

"I don't know what came over me. I think I'm just really unsure of how to act around you now, because we've always been either burning each other or sleeping together, and I'm not exactly sure what the middle ground is," she explains.

.

"Yeah, that would be called friendship" he says as he exhales.

.

"What is this 'friendship' you speak of?" she asks, taking another drag. "See, I used to be a cheerleader, so my native language is 'bitch', even with my closest friends-not that I have too many of those around anymore" she says, thinking of Donna. Her brow furrows as she looks at the floor. "I'm not sure I know how to 'do' nice."

.

"Well, it's lucky you're asking me, since nice is what I am known for" he says facetiously.

.

Hyde pulls a bottle of whiskey down from his shelf and two shot glasses. He fills them both and hands one to Jackie.

.

Jackie scoots further back on his mattress and leans against the bare wall. "So what I'm getting from this is that you are I are both assholes and our friendship is doomed" she presses her lips into a hard line.

.

"Pretty much" he shrugs. "To being doomed" he raises his glass for a toast.

.

She raises hers to meet his and they both do theirs shots. He lines up the glasses and refills them.

.

"Did I just drink moonshine?" she asks, taking another drag off of the joint. "My tongue feels furry" she complains as she moves it around her mouth.

.

Hyde looks at her carefully to diagnose. "Lemme see. Stick it out" he beckons.

.

She sticks her tongue out and he puts a clothes pin on it.

.

"Ow!" She grimaces and takes it off. "You suck!" she yells, chucking the clothespin at him.

.

He cowers as it bounces off of his 'fro. "Just being a friend the only way I know how," he smirks.

.

"That's something you'd do to Kelso" she glowers.

.

"You are my friend as Kelso is my friend" he says equitably as he takes the last drag off the roach and stubs it out.

.

"But you haven't seen Kelso naked a million times" she counters.

.

"As a matter of fact, I have" he grins.

.

"Okay. You win" she throws her hands in the air. "Treat me like your bro!" she yells as she collapses backwards onto his bed.

.

A lump forms in Hyde's throat as he observes Jackie sprawled out across his bed, the hem of her dress riding up her smooth thighs. He's had many fantasies like this over the past year, but none of them included a damn friendship pact.

.

He tries to keep his breathing steady, but the bow on that wrap dress she's wearing is already half undone, and all it would take is a sharp pull or a sudden jolt for it to untie, causing the fabric to fall open completely. He could easily provide that jolt—and then about 50 more once the dress comes off. Shit. She's turning him into Fez again.

.

Hyde clears his throat and picks up his next shot of whiskey. "Come on, Burkhart, you're falling behind." he teases. Maybe if she sits up instead of lounging on her back his urge to bang her will lessen? Yeah, probably not.

.

She turns over on her side and takes the glass between her slender fingers and taps it gently on the side table while she thinks of a toast.

.

Crap. This position is so much worse. Hyde curses gravity as his eyes are drawn to one of her breasts which now threatens to break free from from the confines of her garment. He can feel his palms start to sweat.

.

"To the middle ground" she announces, holding her shot glass aloft.

.

Hyde quickly clinks his glass against hers and downs his drink. He's going to need about 20 more of these if he's going to survive this night. Relief hits once he realizes he still has a list of questions she needs to answer. Yeah, he'll get her talking. That never fails to ruin the mood.

.

Jackie dips her finger into her shot glass, swishes it around and sticks it into her mouth. She sucks the liquor off her finger and makes a face. "I really do think this is moonshine".

.

Hyde laughs. "It's whiskey and you're leaving me hanging here" he admonishes her.

.

"Bottoms up". She shrugs her shoulders lazily, tips her head back and lets the moonshine-grade whiskey flow down the back of her throat. Once done, she flops back onto her back and does a cat stretch.

.

As if responding to a Pavlovian prompt, Hyde's jeans begin to tighten as she writhes her lean body in front of him on his bed.

.

He buries his face in his hands and rubs hard. "Can I ask you some more questions?" he suggests from the safe haven of his closed hands.

.

She points her finger like a gun at him and says "Bang!" then blows on her finger. "That means shoot".

.

Hyde scoots over and sits facing her on the bed. "Sit up" he orders, which she does with a groan. "#9 – What's your most embarrassing moment?" he asks.

.

Jackie laughs heartily. "Where the hell do I start?"

.

"Maybe just pick the first one that comes to your head" he suggests.

.

She taps one finger against her chin and thinks. "Nearly 20 years of bad judgment and blind enthusiasm really has provided me with a wealth of material" she smiles secretly to herself.

.

Hyde wonders if there really is a God and if he's testing him in some way by sending her there in that fucking red dress, eyes gleaming with mischief and wanton energy.

.

"Oh wait a minute. Do you remember that one Halloween where I went dressed as a sexy cat?" she asks.

.

"Don't remember." he lies. Of course he remembers, she wore a skin-tight leotard all night. An image like that is sort of burned into the brain.

.

"Well that was the year we went to that party at Buddy Morgan's house. My costume had this long cat tail that I would wiggle around like this" she says, demonstrating the wiggle.

.

"Uh-huh" Hyde answers, crossing his legs.

.

"And stupid oaf Michael got really drunk and ended up stepping on my tail and it tore clean off, but I didn't notice, because I was also really drunk," she continues. "Well, it wasn't until about ten minutes before we left when I went to the bathroom to freshen up that I noticed it."

.

Hyde rests his chin on his hands to listen.

.

"There was a giant hole the size of Kenosha in the back of my leotard and you could see straight through" she shudders, covering her head in embarrassment.

.

"So?" Hyde asks, not sure what the big deal was.

.

"I wasn't wearing any underwear" she shrieks from under her arms.

.

Hyde starts laughing his ass off. He doesn't know whether he's more amused or turned on. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad" he says unconvincingly. Now he has another reason to be pissed off he left the party early that night with Kat Peterson. The first reason being that she turned out to be too drunk to fool around. Looks like the whole night was a bust.

.

"Oh Steven it was. They used some of the photos from that night in the yearbook and you can see my butt crack on page 15" she sighs miserably.

.

"Ha. That's good". He continues chuckling at her embarrassment. He makes a mental note to check page 15 in the 1977 volume of his yearbook.

.

"The worst part is that I had finally gotten Michael to agree to dance with me and they were playing one of my favorite songs, but once I found out about the hole I had to leave" she pouts.

.

"THAT was the worst part? Worse than everybody in Point Place getting a good look at your ass?" he asks with amazement.

.

"I was doing everybody a favor by letting them glimpse this ass. Like a public service" she explains, pointing to her butt. "You've seen it—it's fantastic. But I always wanted to dance to that song and he screwed that up too. Clumsy Michael" she frowns.

.

"Which song? Waterloo?" he asks mockingly.

.

"No, it was Alison,'" she answers wistfully. "I always loved that song".

.

Elvis Costello? Maybe she had better taste in music than he gave her credit for.

.

"What's next?" she asks.

.

"#10—same question you asked me" he treads nervously.

.

Jackie pauses for a moment then shakes her head. "My daddy's Lincoln, of course".

.

"Come on" he prods.

.

"I just told you" she says insistently.

.

"Jackie..." he says with disapproval. "Why won't you answer the question?"

.

"Why do you want to know so badly?" she counters.

.

Hyde meets her gaze. "You know".

.

"If you have to ask, then you never knew me at all." Jackie stares back without flinching. "Besides, whatever I answer isn't going to change anything".

.

"It could" he suggests hopefully.

.

Jackie shakes her head. "What's question #11?"

.

Hyde's heart sinks when she refuses to answer the question. Maybe she met somebody over the last year and she's trying to spare his feelings? Maybe the answer is Michael Fucking Kelso? He had been sure she still loved Michael throughout their own relationship, so maybe she really did love him a little more as he always suspected?

.

"It's not Michael" Jackie says as if reading his mind. "In case you were worried that was my answer".

.

Hyde acknowledges her clue with a nod on the outside and a party on the inside. For the last few years, Kelso was like their relationship's own personal grim reaper, always waiting in the wings ready to kill. Knowing for sure that Kelso wasn't her one great love only confirms that all of their problems were imaginary and self-made, driven by fear and insecurity, pretty un-zen and incredibly stupid.

.

"I liked this game better when you were answering the questions" she says as she reaches for the whiskey and takes a swig from the bottle. Her face scrunches up adorably when the aftershock hits.

.

"That's because you're a control freak" he informs her.

.

Offended, she yells "I am not!"

.

"Prove it" he dares as he pulls their old silk scarf out of his bottom dresser drawer.

.

She gives him a sly look. "Is this some sort of sex thing?" she wonders suspiciously.

.

"See? Always gotta be in control" he throws it at her to put on.

.

She blanches as she watches it fall into her lap "I don't want to put something on my face that dozens of other girls have touched".

.

Hyde's chest burns with shame over his past behavior. "I wouldn't do that, Jackie. You're the only one who has used this" he assures her.

.

Her brow furrows quizzically. "But, we broke up so long ago. Why do you still have it if you don't use it anymore?"

.

He shrugs. "Guess I forgot I had it." he utters. "Are we doing this or what?" he asks, changing the subject.

.

Jackie brings the scarf to her eyes and ties it firmly. "Go on".

.

He stands up to grab his guitar from the wall hook then sits back on the bed and leans it on his knee. "If you ever tell anybody what I'm about to do I will kill us both" he warns.

.

He clears his throat and begins to strum the opening chords to the song "Alison" by Elvis Costello. At first, he sings it almost in a whisper, but after a few seconds it's loud enough for her to hear clearly.

.

******_Oh it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl. _**

******_And with the way you look I understand that you were not impressed. _**

******_But I heard you let that little friend of mine _**

******_Take off your party dress._**

******_ I'm not gonna to get too sentimental _**

******_Like those other sticky valentines, _**

******_'Cause I don't know if you are loving somebody. _**

******_I only know it isn't mine. _**

******_Alison, I know this world is killing you. _**

******_Oh, Alison, my aim is true._**

******_._**

_**Well I see you've got a husband now. **_

_**Did he leave your pretty fingers lying in the wedding cake? **_

_**You used to hold him right in your hand. **_

_**I bet he took all he could take. **_

_**Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking **_

_**When I hear the silly things that you say. **_

_**I think somebody better put out the big light, **_

_**'Cause I can't stand to see you this way. **_

_**Alison, I know this world is killing you. **_

_**Oh, Alison, my aim is true. My aim is true.**_

.

He finishes playing the song and waits tensely for her reaction. She barely moves, frozen in place by shock.

.

"I know you still didn't get to dance to it, but I figured this might be okay too." he says softly. "What did you think?" he asks anxiously, his stomach tightening into a ball.

.

Her bottom lip quivers for a moment until she bites it, unable to speak.

.

Too impatient to wait for her response, he reaches over and unties the scarf, letting it fall to her lap. Silent tears stream down her face as she continues bearing down on her lip, still unable to utter a sound.

.

"Say something, Jackie" he begs. "Was it...okay?"

.

******A/N- I know the chapter is a bit uneven, but hopefully ended on a high note. I may keep going tonight if I have the energy. How am I doing? Are you still enjoying this? Let me know in the review section.**


	10. Chapter 10

**This whole chapter is rated a HARD M for smuttiness from the point that J/H appear, so either get your popcorn ready or skip to the next chapter if that kind of stuff makes you squeamish. I think you can pretty much figure out where this is going. **

**.**

**Thanks again for all of the amazing, wonderful reviews! It honestly really makes may day when I see them piling up, so please continue! If you really like this story, I would be extremely grateful if you marked it as a "favorite" so that more people might read it. **

**.**

**CHAPTER 10**

.

Donna, Eric, and Fez are squished onto the couch together with Kelso perched on the arm. They are all in total shock.

.

"Was that a...guitar?" Eric asks in disbelief.

.

"I believe he was playing 'Alison'" Donna says, also in shock.

.

"Elvis Costello is dreamy" Fez coos while sucking a tootsie pop intently.

.

"Yeah, so...I will accept payment in any denomination" Kelso announces to Fez, while hitching up his belt.

.

"No no no. The fat lady has not yet sung, you beautiful bastard" Fez warns.

.

"True...but HYDE just sang. And played guitar. For Jackie!" Eric says with disgust, while reaching into his wallet. He pulls out a $20 and hands it to Donna. "I know when I've been bested, m'lady".

.

"Thanks honey." She takes the $20 bill and tucks it into her bra. "Maybe we should get out of here before,_ you know_?"

.

"I thought you'd never ask" Eric shudders before helping his girlfriend up off the couch. "To the Pinciotti's!" he pronounces. "You still have cable, right honey?" he mopes.

.

She strokes his hair. "We'll put on something cheerful to get your mind off of it" she promises as they walk out of the basement. "You coming?" she asks the boys.

.

"Brooke should be done putting Betsy down for a nap by now, so I'm going to 'play the guitar' for her" he says with a wink. "That means I'm going to try to get her to do it with me".

.

"Thanks for the translation man" Eric deadpans.

.

Fez remains on the couch.

.

"Fez...what are you doing?" Donna asks him suspiciously.

.

"I am staying until I have confirmation of whoopie," he announces.

.

"You're planning on hiding in the shower, right?" she asks.

.

"Does Fez not deserve a happy Christmas? He pouts and he walks to the shower as everybody else leaves.

.

* * *

.

"Please say something, Jackie" he begs.

.

Paralyzed by fear, all she can do is sit there and wait for the moment to pass without incident.

.

Not sure whether to be angry or concerned, Hyde snaps "I feel like an idiot right now. If you didn't like it or you're freaked out or something, I get it. Just say something. Say anything!"

.

In an instant, she lunges forward and kisses him, intertwining her hands in his hair, pulling him towards her with the kind of fierce passion that would break weaker men.

.

The guitar falls out of his hands onto the floor as he bears the brunt of her force. He gingerly brings his hands to her hair, allowing himself to feel the cool strands of silk brush up against his palms and fingers. If he had known this would be her reaction, he would have learned to play this song years ago.

.

Jackie is possessed, unable to direct herself as something primal in her that she's chained down for too long has been unleashed. She slows down for a moment, smoothing her hands over the sides of his face, taking in everything his eyes want to communicate to her. Actions have always served them better than words. Words can be misunderstood or used as weapons, but this is unadulterated and unmistakable.

.

"Jackie" Hyde pulls away breathless. "Jackie, I -".

.

"Shhh" she says as she places a few fingers over his lips. "Don't say anything. Please don't talk" she pleads, immediately replacing her fingers with her lips.

.

He wants to speak. For the first time ever he actually wants to tell her everything he's feeling inside, everything he's been wrestling with and lost over the past year, and for the first time ever, she'd rather have his silence. Irony can be really fucking cruel.

.

His urgency to talk is quickly replaced by his urgency to be with her again, to feel her soft body up against him and bury himself in her warmth. "God!" he moans as she moves her lips along the ridge of his jaw, making her way down to the sweet spot behind his ear that he loves so much. She takes his earlobe into her warm mouth and sucks rhythmically as her hand wanders south down the front of his chest.

**.**

Just as he inches his hand into the cleavage of her dress she pulls back and stands up, leaving him shell-shocked. He's about to sit up to stop her when she places one boot on his chest, keeping him down. He watches her wide-eyed, waiting to see what her next unpredictable move is going to be. It's like observing a bobcat in the wild.

.

Balancing on one foot, she leans over to his record player, pulls an album from the pile, slaps it on the machine, flips the switch and drops the needle.

**.**

**"Just What I Needed" by The Cars comes blaring on the speakers.**

**.**

**__****I don't mind you coming here  
wasting all my time  
'Cause when you're standing oh so near  
I kinda lose my mind **

**.**

"You don't want them to hear us right?" she smiles as he holds her by the ankle and unzips her boot, throwing it to the ground. He taps his chest and she switches legs, placing the other foot in the middle of his chest. He runs his hand down her leg and quickly discards the other boot.

.

She leans over and lifts his shirt off and throws it to the floor in the direction of her shoes.

**__****.**

**__****It's not the perfume that you wear****__****  
It's not the ribbons in your hair  
I don't mind you coming here  
and wasting all my time **

_._

He reaches out and tugs the string on her wrap dress, letting is fall open to reveal half her body.

.

She slowly pulls the string out through the other side, taking her time, making him wait for it, then lets her dress drop to the ground.

.

Hyde's heart is beating out of his chest. He had almost forgotten how gorgeous she looked in her underwear. He breathes deeply and tries to talk himself down so the night doesn't end earlier than he hoped. He's wanted her for so long and much to his bewilderment, it is actually happening. For nearly two years he's imagined running his hands all over her velvety sensitive places, tasting her in his mouth and letting her overwhelm his five senses until he forgets his own name. He never thought he would have the chance again, but here she is opening up her dress and inviting him in.

.

She climbs onto to bed and straddles his lap. He lightly runs his fingertips down her cheeks, across her collar bone, over the peaks of her breasts and down her taut stomach before settling his hands on her hips.

.

"Jackie" he breathes,"You're so-"

**.**

Her fingers reach up and cover his mouth again. "This works better when you don't talk" she whispers, before reaching back and unhooking her bra, leaving only a thin pair of lace panties between him and paradise. She picks up the silk scarf lying on the bed and ties it around her eyes again.

.

He closes his eyes for a moment and wishes he had a God to pray to, because he's going to need divine intervention if he's going to make it through this. "Shit" he pants.

.

"Stop talking!" she admonishes.

.

**__****I don't mind you hanging out  
and talking in your sleep  
Doesn't matter where you've been  
as long as it was deep, yeah **

**.**

He grabs her by the shoulders and throws her on the bed roughly, causing her to squeal. Watching her recline, nearly naked save for a blindfold and pair of tiny underwear is like a mythical test. He feels like Odysseus and she's every fucking siren in the ocean trying to lure him to a violent death.

.

He gently strokes the side of her cheek with back of his index and middle finger then slowly runs them down the center of her chest, stopping to tease her along the way. He smiles, remembering how responsive she always was. This is going to be fun.

.

Jackie gasps as he runs his fingers over her stiff peaks, feeling them pucker and harden under his expert touch. This is what she wants. This is what she's been fantasizing about since the moment he shot her a dirty look in the basement. She doesn't care what this means, if it even means anything, she just needs to feel him one more time on her own terms.

.

Hyde leans over and takes one of Jackie's nipples in his mouth, sucking for a moment, then blowing cool air on it. She writhes beneath him, allowing him to work her into a frenzy. He continues to run his hand down the center of her chest until he reaches the waistband of her panties. He slips a finger under the band and caresses the skin beneath, tormenting her by by refusing to move further downward.

**.**

**__****You always knew to wear it well****__****  
You look so fancy, I can tell  
I don't mind you hanging out  
and talking in your sleep **

.

Jackie whimpers and shakes her legs a bit as a way of speeding him up. She's not sure how much more of this teasing she can take. The blindfold seemed like a good idea at the time, but she may be in over her head now. She also curses her lack of foresight when it came to not stripping off her underwear earlier.

.

Watching her squirm under his touch is the most fascinating, sexy thing Hyde's ever seen. Knowing he has so much control over her, when he had none for so long is an aphrodisiac. Regardless, he can tell he's being selfish, pushing her a bit far, and decides it's only right to give her the release she craves.

.

He pulls her underwear down to her knees and presses his palm firmly against her, eliciting a load moan of pleasure from her.

.

"Thank God" she cries under her breath as he presses circles with his fingers. As he speeds up his hand, he places his mouth on her navel, causing her body to contract on contact.

.

**__****I guess you're just what I needed  
(just what I needed)  
I needed someone to feed  
I guess you're just what I needed  
(just what I needed)  
I needed someone to please****_  
_****.**

"Man, you're fucking sexy" he murmurs against her stomach as he makes his way down to join his fingers. He tastes her desire on his lips, and presses up against her with his tongue roughly.

.

"I'm so close" she pants, legs beginning to shake again.

.

He works her into a fervor with his hands and mouth until the sensation overwhelms her, igniting an explosion stronger than she's felt in ages. "Oh God. Steven! Yes!" she screams, beyond caring who can hear her. As she comes down from her high, body trembling with desire, she reaches out blindly to touch him.

.

"Looking for something?" he teases as he unbuckles his pants and sheds them fast. "You're going to have to be more specific" he taunts.

.

"Steven" she whimpers in her characteristic way, making his knees go weak.

.

He takes her hand and places it on his erection. "Is this what you're looking for?"

.

She smiles blissfully as she folds her hand around him. "Yeah. Bring it closer" she orders him.

**.**

**__****I don't mind you coming here  
and wasting all my time, time  
'Cause when you're standing oh so near  
I kinda lose my mind, yeah**

.

"How is it you're both the dominant and the submissive in this scenario?" he laughs, tantalizing her entrance with his tip.

.

"I want what I want when I want it" she reminds him as she bucks her hips to try to make further contact with his body.

.

**__****It's not the perfume that you wear  
It's not the ribbons in your hair  
I don't mind you coming here  
and wasting all my time**

**_._**

"Bossy." he tsks, tormenting her.

.

She lurches up and grabs the back of his head, bringing him down to meet her lips. She moans in his mouth as she tongues him relentlessly until he's so intoxicated with her he starts losing track of where he is. Jackie pulls her mouth close to his ear and whispers "If you don't please fuck me right now I will kill you. I said please."

.

Hyde's lungs suddenly collapse and he sharply intakes some air. "That'll do" he says as he plunges into her hard, causing a guttural groan from both of them.

.

**__****You're just what I needed  
You're just what I needed  
You're just what I needed**

**__****Yeah Yeah Yeah**

**_._**

"Shit!" he gasps as he pumps into her hard, holding her arms above her head for stability.

.

"Steven...I want...I want to..." she pants, too delirious to form words while taking his rough strokes.

.

"What do you want baby?" he growls as he sinks himself into her body deeper, generating a squeal from Jackie.

.

"Take my blindfold off! I want to see you!" she clamors.

.

He pulls the scarf off of her and throws it across the room, continuing to stroke her relentlessly without a break.

.

She looks up into his sky blue eyes and feels everything she's ever felt all at once: passion, love, ecstasy, hurt, rage, peace, and every other emotion she's ever had for him erupts inside of her like a volcano and he sees them all pass through her and reflect back at him as he gazes into her blue-green pools.

.

"Oh God!" she mewls, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes, never looking away.

.

"Baby, I can't hold out" he moans into her. "Oh God Jackie, I love you!" he screams as he starts to climax, triggering hers as well, as they both explode and empty out into each other.

.

Hyde collapses on top of her and remains inside of her, unwilling to break their bond just yet. He leans up on his elbows and combs the hair away from her face with his fingers and kisses her gently on the lips.

.

Petrified of what just happened, Jackie wordlessly watches as he peppers her forehead, her cheeks, her nose her neck, and everywhere in between with soft, feather-lite kisses.

.

"Are you okay?" he asks her, looking for any sign of what she might be feeling.

.

She nods her head numbly and bites her lip. "That was nice" she says for lack of a better word.

.

"Nice?" he balks. "That wasn't nice" he chuckles, proud of himself.

.

Jackie smiles tightly. "Okay, phenomenal. That work better for you?"

.

He looks at her and exhales deeply as he withdraws from her body, causing Jackie to immediately ache from his absence.

.

"Only if you mean it" he grins and places another kiss on her mouth. "I could lie here all day with you," he says involuntarily, unsure of where this Formanesque pillow talk is coming from.

.

"I wish I could" she says in a tone that lets him know she's about to bail. "I need to, you know, freshen up" she tells him sheepishly.

.

"Okay" he agrees, trying hard to hide his disappointment. "You can take my robe" he offers.

.

She climbs out of bed puts on his robe and collects all of her things, then turns to face him. "Thanks" she says weakly as she slips out of the room, leaving him wondering why he couldn't just follow her simple directions and keep his big fucking mouth shut.

.

**A/N – Was that hookup everything you wanted it to be? Do you need a cold shower or did it leave you cold? Sound off in the reviews section and let me know!**


	11. Chapter 11

**We're back to a T rating here, so it's safe to uncover your eyes now!**

**.**

**Thanks again to all of you who are following and commenting on this. You are the BEST! Now get ready for a long angsty chapter...**

**.**

**CHAPTER 11**

.

Clad only in Hyde's flannel robe and holding all of the clothes she wore less than an hour ago, Jackie frantically rushes up the stairs to the bathroom only to find the handle immobile as she bears all of her weight down on it. Of course it's locked. Jackie curses her bad luck.

.

"Shit!" Jackie whispers-screams to herself as she looks around the hallway for a safe place to hide until the current occupant of the bathroom leaves.

.

The handle jiggles suddenly and the door swings open, sending Jackie to feebly duck down ostrich-style into her pile of clothes.

.

"Jackie?" Brooke asks with concern as she observes the shaken brunette cowering in the hallway.

.

Jackie peeks up at the sound of her voice and immediately relaxes. "Oh thank God" she pants as she pushes the auburn-haired beauty back into the bathroom with her.

.

* * *

.

Jackie unceremoniously dumps all of her stuff in the middle of the bathroom floor and starts pacing wildly back and forth.

.

Brooke backs up against the wall to stay out of Jackie's way while she looks on in fear. "Um...are you okay, hun?"

.

Jackie stops pacing and looks at her. "No" she says quickly as she throws herself into Brooke's unsuspecting arms.

.

Brooke eases into the embrace quickly and begins to stroke her younger friend's back, hoping this calming technique will work on her as well as it does on her toddler.

.

"So, uh, Michael was actually telling the truth this time about you and Hyde, huh?" she asks. "I thought he was crazy earlier when he mumbled something about a 'drunken rabbit' and then shoved a sweaty $20 bill he claimed he won from Fez into my hand" she muses.

.

A look of horror overtakes the petite brunette's face. "Oh please tell me you're joking. They bet on whether or not I was going to get laid?" she buries her face back into Brooke's chest and weeps.

.

"Not exactly" she answers timidly. "Some of them were betting that you'd kill him instead. I believe they called it the 'crash and burn'".

.

Jackie is livid. "Eric Forman is a dead man" she says with menace.

.

Brooke places her hands on Jackie's shoulders to calm her down. "Why don't you tell me why you're wandering around in flannel?"

.

Jackie looks down and fingers the material. "Ugh. I ran up here so quickly I didn't even notice" she shudders. "Okay fine. I kind of went into 'drunken rabbit' mode with Steven earlier" she says looking down.

.

"Oh boy" Brooke exhales. "You've come too far to go back now, Jackie" she warns.

.

"I know that!" she snaps. "Don't you think I know that? I just...he was playing a song on the guitar and he told me that he loved me."

.

Brooke looks confused. "We're still talking about Steven Hyde here?"

.

"I know! So you can see why I might have had a little slip?" she asks, hoping for some kind of absolution.

.

"This is not a little slip. You're running through a packed house on Christmas, fully naked under a man's robe and carrying around your dress, bra and shoes. Now, normally I'd say 'good job' on getting some action, but you're not at _your_ house, you're at the Formans'! You must've wanted a piece of that dirty hippie really badly if you were willing to risk getting caught by Red in your all-together" she says while gesturing to her friend's naked body.

.

Jackie slides down the wall to sit on the floor and Brooke slides down to meet her.

.

"What am I going to do?" she asks miserably.

.

"Well, was this a fling for old time's sake or was this something else?" she challenges her friend to answer.

.

"A fling. Or maybe...I don't know." Jackie says, hanging her head dejectedly. "I kind of only know what I _don't_ want right now" she offers.

.

"Hey, that's a start!" she smiles weakly, trying to sound positive, while pulling an elastic off her wrist to smooth the pixie's hair into a pony tail for her.

.

"You're a really good friend, Brooke. I don't know what I would have done without you and Michael this year," she says truthfully.

.

"Well, I'm just glad he doesn't have to keep it a secret anymore. You know how horrible he is at that. I had to threaten to cut him off if he said anything to the gang" she laughs. "Withholding sex feels strangely like I'm punishing myself".

.

"Even when it's with Michael?" she asks. "Kidding?" Jackie giggles. "Well I withheld sex all year and I didn't even have a man".

.

"So is Hyde still walking after being on the receiving end of the break in your year long dry spell?" Brooke tries to keep a straight face.

.

"I might have broken his guitar" she sighs.

.

Both ladies laugh hysterically.

.

"Brooke's eyes widen. "Was it that good?"

.

Jackie looks at her and says frankly "My palms are still sweating".

.

* * *

.

Wondering where Jackie went off to for so long, Hyde peeks out of his door and finds Fez sitting on the couch alone, angrily sucking on a candy cane.

.

"Hey man" Hyde nods as he cranes his neck to check out the staircase for signs of his ex.

.

"She hasn't come back down," he informs his afro'd friend without looking up at him.

.

"Who are you talking about?" Hyde asks, playing dumb.

.

Fez shoots him a withering stare.

.

"Right. So, I take it you were hiding in the shower then." Hyde confirms as he plops down next to Hyde on the couch, wearing only a t-shirt and boxers.

.

"Sounded like you two had _quite_ the afternoon delight" he comments, with a slight edge to his voice.

.

"Yeah, I mean, it was always good with us, but this was" He makes an explosion noise with dual-hand gesturing. "A-bomb".

.

"Great. So now that you got what you wanted, do you think you can leave her alone, Hyde?" Fez asks, finally looking at him.

.

"What do you mean 'got what I wanted'? You think I was just using her?" he asks angrily.

.

"Well, considering you've had about a million shots with that goddess and you've squandered every one, a man can only assume yes." he says matter-of-factly.

.

"Look Fez, I'm not using her, okay? I want to be with her" he explains.

.

Fez looks at him condescendingly. "By be with her you mean...?"

.

"I don't know man, just, be with her. I want her to be my girl again." he affirms, starting to squirm under this line of questioning.

.

He continues his interrogation. "And then?"

.

"What are you, her fucking dad?" Hyde bristles.

.

"No, Jackie's dad is in prison, remember? She hasn't had anybody looking out for her in a long time, but that's over now. I'm going to make up for neglecting her, and I'm not going to allow you or any other guy to treat her badly ever again" he threatens, using stallion face for added fierceness.

.

"Yeah?" he asks, puffing out his chest. "What are you going to do about it?"

.

Fez steels his gaze and doesn't back down. "I won't have to do anything Hyde, because you are going to screw it up all by yourself. You always do. I might just push the process along a bit" He says, waving his hand for effect.

.

Hyde relents. "I don't want to hurt her. I still...you know, love her, okay?" he admits softly.

.

"I'm not saying you don't love her Hyde, I'm only saying you wouldn't know it from where I'm standing. If you're really in love, then act like it and make her feel like the princess she is. She deserves it." Fez stands up and walks towards the door to go to Donna's house.

.

Hyde runs his hands over his face and thinks carefully about what was said during his Cosa Nostra-like encounter with his foreign friend. If Fez had the cojones to say something like this to him a year ago, he would've been picking his teeth up off the floor. Today though, he's actually kind of proud of the little guy. And grateful. Fez is right, Jackie has been fending for herself for too long and could use somebody watching her back, even if she'd probably scoff at the help.

.

He knows better than anyone that despite Jackie's size, she's sitting on a set of balls the size of Texas, but part of him wishes she were still that idealistic teenager who used to listen to Donnie and Marie and liked to doodle hearts over the 'i's in her name. He doesn't want this kind of life for her, the kind where people feel they need to look out for her. He wants her life to be easier and less like his own. It's one of the reasons he worried about dating her in the first place. He'd never known anybody who had such a pure heart and as much enthusiasm for life as she did. She had an innocence that was too rare to be believed.

.

Thinking back to when they first met, he could actually kick himself for finding something suspicious in that, but he was suspicious about everything back then. He thought she had perfection handed to her and that she acted that way because she didn't understand what real life was about. He just didn't realize then that she understood it all too well. but had the guts to thumb her nose it it anyway. Everything she is was created through her sheer will despite of, not because of her crappy upbringing. He should have been taking notes instead of throwing stones.

.

Jackie jogs down the basement steps, stopping at the bottom when she catches a glimpse of him. As if on cue, her heart constricts as his eyes fall upon her.

.

"Hey" he brightens. "I wasn't sure if you were coming back" he says half-seriously.

.

"Well, we _are _snowed in, which makes the traditional middle of the night bolt after a one-nighter a challenge" she jokes as she hands him his folded robe.

.

Hyde's face falls. "This was a one-night-stand?"

.

Jackie looks uncomfortable and doesn't know what to say. "I don't know. I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to doing it again" she teases, trying to distract him with humor.

.

He turns his face from her as it goes ashen. This meant nothing to her. Of course it didn't. It was just a fuck for her, nothing more. Funny how it's hard to realize when feelings are one-sided when you're on the wrong side. He felt like a Grade-A idiot.

.

She notices his body stiffen. "I'm sorry, Steven. Did I say the wrong thing?" she asks as she plants herself next to him on the couch and tries to get him to look at her.

.

"Nah, it's cool." He regains his zen and turns to face her. "I still have a few more questions for you."

.

Jackie nods, worried she's hurt him and mainly petrified she's opening herself up to him hurting her back even worse. He always did like to kill a fly with a hammer.

.

"Question #11 – Do you think I robbed you of your innocence?" he asks in all seriousness.

.

A pair of mismatched eyes are taken aback. "That's an unusual question!" she remarks, furrowing her brow. Why on Earth would he be asking her this? Jackie's eyes softens and she tilts her head to get a better look at him. "Is that honestly what you think?" she asks, wondering where he could've gotten such a crazy idea into his head.

.

Hyde shrugs.

.

She reaches out and grabs his hand. "Baby, my innocence was gone long before you and I ever hooked up. You forget that you're not the only one whose parents abandoned them. The only difference is that mine left while they were still physically in the house. I know you and Michael used to make fun of me for having so many stuffed animals around, but they really brought me comfort when my parents didn't. They were the only things that were constantly there. If you remember, I didn't have them around so much when we got together because I didn't need them anymore. You made me feel safe." she explains.

.

His lips slightly curl as a wave of relief hits him. She has no idea how long he's been carrying that idea around, punishing himself for it whenever he remembered to.

.

"Question #12- What was the worst day of your life?" he asks, borrowing from Forman.

.

She takes a deep breath. "Easy. The day my dad went to prison. It was like my childhood ended right then. I went to bed a kid and woke up an adult. A suddenly broke adult who was living alone in a decaying house without help or support or anybody to take care of me when I was feeling sick. And I went from no responsibility at all to juggling school, a job, and everything else. Looking back I realize how much harder I made it on myself. I just didn't want to let it beat me, you know? I was too proud to admit when I needed help and I was so embarrassed. I knew everybody was talking about me and laughing at me, and I wanted to show all of them! It didn't feel fair to me that I should have to sacrifice one A or one cheerleading practice because of my parent's mistakes. I thought if I let one tiny thing slip I might completely fall apart at the seams. I know I was pretty high strung back then."

.

"Funny how you cared so much about what other people thought about you when I had the same thing happen to me, but I forced myself to stop caring at all" Hyde says thoughtfully. "I just sort of gave up on people. You're a fighter." he smiles proudly, remembering how powerless he always was when faced with her tenaciousness.

.

"I've learned to lower my expectations though. For my own sanity" she says, laughing to lighten the sting. "I'm sick of fighting against the tide. I'm tired." she confides.

.

"Stealing Donna's question - #13 What was the best day of your life?" he asks.

.

"You're going to think it's so stupid," she admits, "but it was the same day but later on – when you shaved your beard off."

.

He laughs. "You really hated the beard that much, eh?"

.

"No, I actually kind of liked the beard, the way it looked on you at least," she grins. "It was my best day because it was the day I realized that you actually loved me too. I was feeling so alone, and when you did that to cheer me up, I knew I wasn't on my own anymore and it meant the world to me. More than you know, though I'm pretty sure you got the idea later that night."

.

Hyde feels a warmth throughout his body that he can only attribute to the sense memory of making Jackie feel happy. Sure, he was embarrassed when she made such a big deal about it in front of Donna and Forman, but he was secretly pleased to know she got his true message. He didn't have money, he was bad with words, but he could give her that and she actually knew what it was supposed to mean. Making her smile that night was well worth the price of that razor.

.

"Question #14 - Did you really not feel something on Veterans Day?" he wonders.

.

"You wasted a question on that?" she guffaws. "I thought maybe that whole date was one big burn, and I would have had to move to another state if I said I felt something if you didn't. So I lied, of course."

.

"I lied too." he grins.

.

"Obviously. You had trouble speaking after that kiss" she brags.

.

He rolls his eyes. "Question #15 – Why did you stay in Point Place after I came back married?" he treads lightly.

.

Jackie thinks hard for a moment to figure out how she wants to phrase things. "I knew you were hurt and that you were trying to punish me - but I believed in true love. I thought if two people really loved each other they'd always find their way back to one another, and we couldn't exactly do that with me in Chicago." She sighs at her naivete. "I know better now obviously" she says quietly.

.

Every time he thinks she can't make him feel worse, she does. Great, she doesn't believe in true love anymore because of him. Well fuck her. He's going to show her that true love exists and that the two of them have it and that they're going to find their way back to one another, even if he has to hire a tracker.

.

"Sorry to hear you're so disillusioned. For the record, I happen to still believe in true love," he asserts.

.

"Still?" she almost chokes on her laughter. "When exactly did you start? You used to say that there was no such thing as soul mates because souls don't really exist, and that if anything, people are 'biology mates' because of pheromones or whatever other crap you were spouting at the time. Romantic, right? You really know how to sweep a girl off her feet" she snorts.

.

Hyde chortles heartily at the memory of his endless stint as a major killjoy. "I can't believe you remembered all of that! I think I was high when I said it."

.

"It scarred me! You actually drove me to steal Donna's M-P issue of Encyclopedia Britannica to research pheromones," she slaps his arm jokingly.

.

"I'm sorry doll, I really am!" He chuckles as he leans over and grabs her in a playful bear hug then kisses the top of her head.

.

She looks up at him warily and pulls back.

.

"Question #16 – if you believed in true love so much, why didn't you try to convince me to leave Sam?" he asks, failing to mask the bitter edge to his voice.

.

Jackie's mouth falls open in offense and all of the air escapes her lungs. "Is that why you stayed with her? You weren't just punishing me, were you? You were trying to goad me into fighting for you? If you wanted me to fight for you, why didn't you just tell me that's what you wanted? Did you think slowly torturing me was going to communicate that message to me clearly?"

.

"That's something I shouldn't have had to tell you!" he argues back.

.

"You had a wife! You married a person who was _not_ me and you wanted ME to fight for you? Why on Earth would I put myself out there like that when you chose another woman over me? How much stroking does your ego need exactly, Steven?" she huffs, leaping to her feet with indignation.

.

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm the one with the ego? Interesting." he responds with umbrage.

.

"You tore my heart out and shredded it in front of me and everybody we know, all because you wanted me back but you were too proud to admit you'd screwed up - and then got angry I couldn't read your mind?" She shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the many horrible things on the tip of her tongue. "You do realize that none of what you did was about us, right? It was all about you and your wounded pride. You wanted me to come crawling back – not because you actually wanted to be with me – just because you needed to feel better about what you did." she complains.

.

"That's not true," he insists weakly, not sure if she's right about him. "Not entirely, at least. I did want to be with you. I do."

.

"If I really thought you had wanted me at all, I would have crawled across broken glass for the chance to put us back together and you know it. You always did care more about your pride than you cared about me," she charges. "You actually think you stopped caring what people thought about you when your mom left? It's _all_ you cared about, Steven."

.

His head feels as though it might pop off at any moment. Could she be right? Hyde buries his head in his hands and tries to stop the flood waters from rising.

.

"Maybe you're right that I cared about what people thought, but you were always more important than that, you know?" he tells her. "I'm not a children's book, Im more like Kafka. Sometimes you have to read between the lines with me. It sucks, I know."

.

feeling empathetic, she returns to her place on the couch and leans against him.

.

"I asked you to tell me if you wanted to spend your life with me, and instead of saying 'hell yes' like it was a no-brainer, you got wasted and strung me along while you mulled it over. I think that was the ending of Cinderella, if I'm not mistaken," she cracks. "The thing is, I shouldn't have even had to ask you. It should have been obvious to me that you loved me and it wasn't." she says sadly.

.

"I'm so sorry." he murmurs with remorse then turns to face her. "For what it's worth, I wasn't sure I could make you happy. It was never the other way around".

.

"God, you're a bigger idiot than Michael sometimes. Even with all of our problems, being with you was the happiest I've ever been," she frowns as she slides her hand into his, interlacing their fingers.

.

"Me too." he nods in agreement.

.

"That doesn't mean it was easy though" she says ruefully. "And it sure as hell wasn't perfect. Maybe that's why you let me go?" she sighs, wondering why they couldn't have hd this conversation 18 months ago.

.

Like a thunderbolt, Hyde suddenly becomes charged with purpose. He turns to his ex with wild eyes and makes an impassioned plea. "Jackie, don't go to Chicago." he orders her, almost as if she has no choice in the matter.

.

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" she titters nervously.

.

"I mean in the Fall. Don't go," he begs her, grabbing both of her hands in his.

.

"Steven, I have to, that's where my college is." she explains, worried about how he'll react to the rejecting when he's finally put himself on the line.

.

"You asked me once to tell you if I thought we had a future together and you said you'd stay here if I said we did. Well I'm saying we do. I want a future with you, because I've seen what my future is like without you and I can't do that again." he confesses, unburdening himself.

.

She pulls her hands from his and tries to stand. "No no no don't do this! You can't do this to me again. That offer is no longer on the table." she says, getting angry. "Don't you get it? I gave up everything I worked so hard for once for you, and it got me nowhere. College is a sure thing. I have worked hard and they want me!"

.

"I want you!" he brays like a wounded animal, grappiling for her hand.

.

Jackie rubs her forehead with her free hand and tries to slow her breathing down. Her body is shaking now and she can barely filter her words before they leave her mouth. "I know you think you do, but you know us. I'll do something stupid and you'll overreact and then I'll be back to sweeping floors at Fez's salon while you're off banging strangers behind the Hub."

.

"I won't" he insists with conviction, willing her to understand his level of certainty.

.

His words rip through her like a storm, but she holds strong to what she knows, what she's preordained is right for her. "You can't promise that. You have a bad track record and I can't put all my eggs in your flimsy basket, okay?" she tells him, clinging to common sense like the roots an old oak anchors itself to the earth.

.

"Jackie, I want my old life back. I know we can be happy again. I want us to be what we once were." he pleads.

.

"Well, I don't." she breathes, dropping a near silent bomb.

.

Hyde feels like he's been sucker punched. He sinks back into the couch in a stupor.

.

Jackie crouches down next to him. "I'm a different person now, Steven. I don't want what we once had" she explains, laying it all out for him. "Everything was always on your terms and you held the threat of leaving me over my head if I pushed you at all to give me what I was entitled to. I spent two years begging for scraps of love and commitment from you, and you spent two years with one foot out the door. I can't go back to that. I deserve better," she declares.

.

"I know you do, and I want to give it to you" he vows, rubbing circles on her wrist with the pad of his thumb. "You have no idea how much I regret the way I treated you," he says candidly, searching with his crystal eyes for signs of hope. "I was just a dumb kid, Jackie. I know better now."

.

"It doesn't matter anymore." she retorts sullenly, unable to meet his gaze.

.

"Of course it still matters! Don't go. Just please stay and let me prove to you how much I want this," he appeals, his voice catching at the end.

.

"Sorry Puddin' Pop, but I choose me" she says as she places one last perfect kiss on his lips before running out of the basement.

**.**

**A/N - ANGST! Hopefully I haven't tied you up in knots with this one. Don't worry Zennies, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I promise! I think you're really going to like how I get Hyde back on her good side. Please let me know if you liked this chapter by leaving a review. Anons are welcome : )**


	12. Chapter 12

**Not sure how even this chapter is, so it would be great to know if you think it works. Just and FYI, we're still in rated T territory, so don't worry about covering your eyes too much, just a little (fully clothed) making out. Please excuse the typos-I'm rushing to get this out to you and will fix them tomorrow. xox**

**.**

**CHAPTER 12**

.

Fez and Kelso are in the kitchen rummaging through the fridge for snacks.

.

Hyde peeks his head in the door. "Hey man, can I talk to you for a second?" he asks the brown-skinned foreigner.

.

Fez makes eye contact with Kelso for a minute and then follows Hyde back downstairs.

.

As they reach the bottom, Hyde grabs two beers he's been cooling in the deep freeze and hands one to Fez.

.

"She turned you down, right?" Fez asks.

.

Hyde deflates. "She told you?"

.

"No, but she's not stupid" he shrugs.

.

"You've got to help me, man. If I don't get Jackie back I am fucked" he groans.

.

"Why?" he wonders.

.

He looks around to make sure they're alone. "What do you mean why? I, you know..."

.

Fez shrugs.

.

"You know...I - I love her, that's why" Hyde says indignantly in a low voice.

.

"Why do you love her?" Fez asks.

.

Hyde rubs his hands through his hair. He's sick to death of his buddy busting his balls, but he knows he's pretty much screwed without his advice. Fez knows Jackie better than any of them, and if he ever wants to have a shot at straightening his life out, he's just got to man up and listen to some hard advice.

.

"Well, she's really hot, which you obviously know. She's a lot smarter than you'd think she'd be when you first see her, and she's tough." he concludes.

.

"Okay, so 'really hot', 'smarter than she looks', and 'tough'. Good luck with that," Fez smacks him on the arm and stands up to leave.

.

"Wait! I'm not good at this kind of thing. I need your help" he admits begrudgingly.

.

"Why should I help you?" he challenges.

.

"I need her" he says quietly. "She gets me."

.

"What's in it for her?" he asks.

.

"Me?" Hyde suggests weakly.

.

Fez balks.

.

At first, Hyde debates which way he's going to beat the crap out of his friend. Should he use his hands or his feet? Then however, he takes a minute to really think about what the little guy is saying to him. 'What's in it for her?' He couldn't really answer that. Jackie made it pretty damn clear that she didn't want to go back to what they once had, but she didn't say she wouldn't go back to something completely different, now did she?

.

"I got you," Hyde nods approvingly. "Your point has been noted".

.

"Focus on giving her what she wants and you're in like Fun Dip." he offers helpfully.

.

"Thanks" he says as he straightens his glasses.

.

Fez starts climbing the stairs, but stops for a moment and turns around. "I meant what I said earlier about you hurting her. Don't." he says menacingly as he finishes the walk to the top.

.

"What does Jackie want?" Hyde wonders to himself. Well, he knows what she doesn't want, and that's him. What doesn't she like about him?

.

Hyde walks to his room and pulls out the pad with the 20 Questions written on them and reviews her answers.

.

She likes playful games, he smiles, thinking back to the blindfold payments and her punk-flavored striptease. He remembers the chair swapping incident earlier and knows she enjoys burning people. Loyalty and trust are important to her, he notes, having learned that lesson the hard way. She worships fashion, lives to dance, digs being serenaded to, and hates weird facial hair. Mainly though, she loves feeling loved - and he definitely loves her, so that's a start.

.

For a complicated chick, she's pretty simple when you pull back the curtain. Her parents let her down and she wants somebody constant to make her feel secure and protected. He can do that. He didn't do it enough when they were together, but that's all going to change now that he's got a second change. Blowing it with her is not an option for him - not if he wants to be happy. Luckily for him, seeing her happy makes him feel happy. Two birds, one stone.

.

From the time he first realized he liked her, he worried he wouldn't be able to make her happy. He feared that he wouldn't earn enough money and wasn't refined enough to make her life the way she always pictured it. The irony is that she didn't care about any of that. All she ever really wanted was somebody to hold her at night and be there when she woke up every day. That's how Kelso always got her back when he didn't deserve to, how he got away with murder - he made her feel cherished. How did he not see this before when it's so glaringly obvious?

.

Okay, he's got a game plan. She wants love and romance, he's going to give it to her in spades. She's going to have so much love crammed into that little 95lb body that he's going to have to to hire somebody to follow them around and sweep up the extra stuff that falls out.

.

He walk purposefully into his room and slams the door behind him in a fit of activity.

.

* * *

.

Hyde walks into the kitchen carrying a wrapped present. He looks at Donna and Fez, who are both sitting at the kitchen table. "Who drew Jackie for the Secret Santa?"

.

"Eric did. As you can imagine, he was thrilled" Donna smirks.

.

"Where's the gift?" he asks curtly.

.

Donna rummages through a shopping bag she's holding at her feet. "He doesn't even know what it is. Eric made me get her something because he doesn't understand what women like to receive as gifts" she grumbles as she hands him the present. "Did I just say that out loud?" her eyes widen.

.

Hyde rips the card off of Jackie's present. He takes a sharpie marker out of his back pocket and writes directly on the paper in big letters:

.

**_To: Dad_**

**_From: Eric_**

.

Then he writes Jackie's name on his wrapped box and places it in Donna's shopping bag.

.

"Where's your gift for Red?" she asks.

.

"Yeah, um, I didn't exactly get around to buying one yet" he answers with only a hint of embarrassment.

.

"You're making your best friend give his dad Jackie's gift?" she starts to chuckle.

.

"Looks that way" he admits.

.

Donna laughs hard. "Oh my God, Red is gonna be so pissed when he sees what Eric's giving him."

.

"You know what you're giving Eric for Christmas, Hyde? The gift of ah BURN." Fez says.

.

Just then, Jackie walks into the kitchen through the sliding glass door and freezes.

.

Hyde grins smugly. "Hey Jackie".

.

"Steven" she responds tersely with a head bob.

.

"How was your afternoon?" he asks innocently.

.

She shrugs. "Just like any other, I guess. Nothing interesting."

.

"Really?" he pushes. He always did enjoy watching her squirm. "You didn't see those skyrockets in flight?"

.

"What rockets?" Donna wonders, completely confused.

.

"Nah-uh." she shakes her head no. "No."

.

"Nothing you found particularly _delightful _this afternoon?" he smirks.

.

"Nope. What exactly are you getting at, Steven?" she asks with hard eyes, calmly challenging him.

.

"He's asking if you liked the 'afternoon delight' you two had earlier in the basement, woman! What are you stupid?" Fez screams, then starts to whistle the song. "Though I personally prefer an acoustic guitar version of 'Alison'. What about you, Hyde?"

.

Donna stifles a laugh. Hyde scowls and flashes Fez his balled up his fist.

.

Jackie glares at her foreign friend, then grabs her ex's arm and pulls him outside for privacy and slides the door shut.

.

"What was that in there?" she demands to know.

.

"Just reminding you of the good times." Hyde says nonchalantly.

.

"Well, don't. It was a moment of weakness. The past is in the past, so we may as well just push ahead right?" she glowers.

.

"That's what I'm trying to do, Jackie." he tells her sincerely. Something catches his eye and he glances upwards, then smiles broadly at her, thanking the universe for throwing him yet another bone.

.

She follows his gaze and notices that Kitty has hung some mistletoe right above them.

.

"Oh God. Is Mrs. Forman so desperate to get some that she has to hang these weeds everywhere?" she complains.

.

"Can't buck tradition." he warns before pulling her in unexpectedly for a bracing kiss.

.

Jackie fights it at first, then eventually gives in, letting his mouth take hers into it's heat. She allows his hands to roam all over her body, pulling her closer into his growing arousal as he glides his tongue and lips in and over hers in a soft tango.

.

Jackie finds herself getting lightheaded and feebly pulls away. "Please stop." she begs him unconvincingly as he backs her up into the glass door and grinds himself into her, letting his mouth travel down the length of her neck.

.

"You really want me to stop?" he asks, while nipping at her earlobe as he grabs her ass to bring her more tightly into his bulge.

.

Two small palms smack the glass as the former cheerleader braces herself. "Oh my God." she moans breathlessly, unable to resist his love assault.

.

* * *

.

From the other side of the glass Donna and Fez watch in shock. Donna has her hand over her mouth and tries unsuccessfully to avert her eyes.

.

Fez is eating candy like he's watching a movie. "Yes, grind harder into her, you beautiful yet scruffy sonofabitch" he mumbles to himself.

.

Kitty walks into the kitchen and busies herself loading up a serving tray with cookies from the cooling rack.

.

* * *

.

Hyde runs his hand up his lover's skirt until he reaches her core. "Jackie, you are a bad girl. Where is your underwear?" he murmurs into her cleavage.

.

"I think maybe still under your bed." she pants into his ear.

.

"Do you want to come look for them with me?" he asks in a low growl that reverberates off of her hot skin.

.

"Oh Steven, I-" she breathes, cut off unexpectedly by a loud noise.

.

The mood is suddenly broken by the sound of somebody loudly banging on the glass door.

.

Donna signals wildly for them to cut it out before Kitty catches an eyeful of their antics.

.

Hyde removes his hand from under her skirt reluctantly and takes one last nip at Jackie's bottom lip before taking off. "You know where to find me if you're interested" he grunts as he heads down the outdoor stairs into the basement.

.

Jackie takes a deep cleansing breath and still feels quite dirty. Tingly and hot everywhere, she wonders how she'll keep up her resolve until the snow melts. Half of her wants to tear off her clothes and go streaking into that basement for another round of backbreaking sex, but the rest of her knows he's just a drug. And like any dangerous habit that you have trouble resisting, you need to just quit the addiction cold turkey. The thing is, she's been eating nothing but cold turkey for over a year now and she's just as hungry for him as she was when they first parted.

.

* * *

.

Everybody is dressed nicely and sits around the living room waiting for Kitty to start the activity.

.

There is a giant plate of cookies in the middle of the table that Kelso and Fez eye greedily.

.

"Don't even think about it, Tonto" Red warns him from behind the newspaper he's reading. "Kitty wants everybody to wait until after the gifts are opened."

.

"Holy cow! Is that a reindeer?" Fez yells lamely while pointing towards the kitchen.

.

Most people look in the direction of his finger while Kelso grabs three cookies from the plate and puts them under his shirt.

.

The guys meet back over near Brooke and Betsy and Kelso divvy's up the booty—one for Fez, one for Betsy and one for him.

.

Brooke clears her throat to signal her disapproval.

.

"Sorry babe, I was only able to grab three" he says as he bites into his cookie. "What? You know I'm not lucky!"

.

His lady puts her hands on her hips and narrows her eyes. "I am starving, Michael Kelso. If you want to ever get 'lucky' again, you're going to hand over that snickerdoodle," she threatens.

.

He looks longingly at the cookie then at Brooke and reluctantly hands it to her. "Damn, Brooke!"

.

Brooke smiles and eats the cookie while snuggling against her man.

.

Donna brings the last remaining presents in from the kitchen and arranges them on the table. Eric walks over to help her set them up and takes a look at Jackie's gift from Hyde.

.

"So he just backed her up against the glass door and was doing her out in the open?" he asks incredulously.

.

"Pretty much. I thought Fez was going to start throwing dollar bills at them soon," she says.

.

"I miss everything!" he throws his arms up in the air with frustration.

.

"Something tells me we're going to get an encore tonight. Just a feeling" she whispers into his ear as Hyde walks in.

.

Kelso sidles over to Hyde and plants himself next to his scruffy friend. "Do the words 'grand gesture' ring any bells?"

.

Hyde grimaces at his buddy's stupidity. "Do they ring any for you?" he asks, not believing for a minute that he knows what this means.

.

He hitches up the waist of his pants. "No they do not. However, Brooke told me to tell you that that's what you need to do to get Jackie back," he suggests before clapping Hyde on the back once and returning to his girlfriend's side.

.

Jackie walks in through the kitchen and immediately locks eyes with her ex, then drops her gaze and seats herself in the far off corner next to Betsy, pulling the affectionate toddler onto her lap.

.

Kitty walks into the center of the room and clears her throat. "Ahem!" she says, trying to get the room's attention. "Red and I feel so happy to have so many of you back at home for Christmas this year. As all of our babies get older, we've been seeing less and less of you, so having everybody here under one room is truly a blessing," she titters, trying not to get emotional.

.

"As you know" she continues, "We all drew names for our Secret Santa gifts, so I'd like you all to come up here and look for your name to claim your gift. Hopefully, since we only each had to buy one gift, people went big and nobody cheaped out like last year by buying people socks" she laughs uncomfortably while looking in Kelso's direction. "Merry Christmas!" she gestures towards the table for people to start.

.

Everybody charges towards the table and sorts out their gifts haphazardly. Once every one has their rightful present, people retake their seats to open their gifts.

.

Hyde shakes his present before peeling back the paper. There is no card attached, so he just dives in. Under the festive paper and expert wrapping is a familiar-looking, beige and white shoe box. As he pulls off the top, a perfect pair of tan boots is revealed to him. The exact model Jackie bought him years ago when he took her to the mall to get over her breakup with Kelso. He smiles widely, knowing this gift could only be from his ex. He glances up at her and nods a 'thank you'.

.

Having eagerly awaited his response, she shoots him a coy smile.

.

As Jackie examines the package in front of her, she notices her name written in familiar handwriting. She peels back the sloppy wrapping to reveal an exact copy of the shoe box containing boots that she gave Hyde. Her brow creases as she tries to figure out what this strange gift means. Her delicate fingers slip under the lip of the box lid and lift it off. Inside, she's faced with the last four years of her life distilled into one worn out shoe box. This is Hyde's 'Jackie Box'. He has a Jackie box! Who knew he cared enough to keep all of this?

.

The first thing she notices is the troll doll she gave Hyde for luck on his first day of work. She then spies one of Bob's stars & stripes napkins he saved from the Veteran's Day BBQ. His dried boutonniere from prom is also inside, as is a picture of the two of them taken that night by the school photographer. Her old cheer uniform that mysteriously went missing is there, as well as the pair of underwear she left on his floor earlier in the day. She even sees a ticket stub from their afternoon at Funland together and the dried flower she wore in her hair to the Valentine's day dance.

.

Towards the bottom of the box she comes upon the Dear John letter she left for him when she went to Chicago. She runs her fingers over the envelope regretfully, cursing the moment she ever thought of picking up the pen.

.

In the corner, sitting all alone is a small, black velvet box. She knows immediately what this is and a lump forms in the base of her stomach. He was telling the truth. He did buy a ring for her. While she was crying her eyes out, missing him in a hotel room, he was picking out a ring to propose to her with. Her hand shaking, she reaches out and brings the cube closer to her, letting it sit closed on the palm of her hand.

.

"Aren't you going to open it?" Hyde asks, standing above her.

.

Her eyes shift away from him as she feels too much shame to look. "No" she says, shaking her head.

.

Hyde crouches down next to her and opens the box, revealing a glittering diamond pave band with nice sized stone set in the center. She had thought about the kind of ring she always wanted and this was nothing like it—it was so much better. He always had a way of upending her ideas of she wanted and giving her something even better, even when she thought she was so sure.

.

"It's beautiful" Jackie utters as she runs her finger down the band and gently caresses the tiny pave stones set within. A tear runs down her face, but she's too distracted to wipe it away. She finally turns to him and several more tears start to fall. "You—you kept all of this? You kept it the whole time? Even when...even when she was living here?" she asks, still unable to say Sam's name without considerable pain.

.

He nods quietly as he wipes her tears away with his thumb.

.

Jackie shakes her head in confusion. "Why?"

.

He takes a deep breath, settles down next to her and takes her hand. "I guess I always hoped we weren't over. Even when it seemed like the end of the road for us, I knew deep down I still loved you, and as long as I did I just couldn't give up," he confides.

.

She silently contemplates everything in front of her and what he's just said. "You really did love me," she says with disbelief.

.

"No, I really _do _love you. I never stopped" he admits.

.

"I wish I knew then" she tells him sadly as her voice catches.

.

"I wish I had told you" he says remorsefully.

.

She looks him directly in the eyes for the first time and hands him the ring. "I can't keep this."

.

His crystal blue eyes sting with hurt. "I bought it for you."

.

"You bought it under different circumstances" she insists, trying to push it into his hand.

.

"Those circumstances haven't changed, Jackie. I love you. I want to be with you. That's what that ring means and I'm not taking it back as long as I still feel this way" he whispers, realizing they are starting to draw attention to themselves.

.

Jackie coughs, trying to hold back the volcano of tears she can feel threatening to erupt all over her face. "I'm sorry" she gasps as she runs out of the room, leaving the box and all of it's contents in Hyde's care.

.

Through the corner of his eye, Hyde notices Fez staring at him. He sadly shrugs before collecting everything into the box and heading downstairs to the basement.

.

"Hey dumbass!" Red yells at Eric. "What the heck is this?" he asks, holding up a pair of tiny, pink, fluffy marabou slippers.

.

"You always did look great in pink, dad" Eric blurts out nervously as his eyes dart around the room in search of Donna. "Um, Merry Christmas?" he declares, petrified of what's to come.

.

"Merry Christmas? It is now. Brace yourself, Eric, because you're about to have the pinkest, fuzziest foot up your ass!" He screams before catching Kitty's admonishing look. His whole body seems to say 'damn' and deflate as he realizes that if he kicks his son's ass his wife might literally divorce him. "But seeing as it's Christmas and all, I guess I'll just give you a pass this time," he sighs.

.

"It's a Christmas miracle!" Eric screams as he embraces his girlfriend with glee.

.

**A/N – Review please!**


	13. Chapter 13

**We have entered Smutville once again, so be forewarned. ****This chapter is rated M for graphic sexytimes. The smut doesn't come until the last quarter, so there's tons to read up to before then, and you won't be lost if you skip it. This entire chapter is only J/H, so buckle up.**

**.**

**Thanks again to everybody who is leaving comments. It feels really amazing to have gotten so much feedback from everybody. Please keep it coming.**

**.**

**CHAPTER 13**

.

As Hyde walks down the stairs into the basement, he's greeted with the familiar twang of Hank Williams' "Cold Cold Heart" softly emanating from his tiny bedroom. There's only one person who knows where his secret country music stash is kept, so he knows he's on the right trail. A faint smile plays across his face as he imagines her thumbing through his records looking for the appropriate song, or did she know exactly what she wanted before she got there? Knowing Jackie, it's the latter.

.

_**I tried so hard my dear to show that you're my every dream.  
Yet you're afraid each thing I do is just some evil scheme  
A memory from your lonesome past keeps us so far apart  
Why cant I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart **_

.

"Nice choice" he thinks as he continues down the steps. His doll always did have a flair for the dramatic. He wonders for a minute what she used to listen to when she cried her eyes out over Sam. He doubts she was listening to country, that was his thing. Then again, he had rubbed off on her in a lot of ways, both good and bad. It occurs to him suddenly that he's missed an entire year of her life and really has no clue what she listens to anymore.

.

_**Another love before my time made your heart sad and blue  
And so my heart is paying now for things I didn't do  
In anger unkind words are said that make the teardrops start  
Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart**_  
.

Hyde thinks of the months of heartbreak he caused for Jackie, and the hours of crying time she must have racked up and he feels a little ill. It was his objective to cause her pain, of course, but only in the short term. Deep down, he knew he'd always want her, but he's never had any self-control or judgment when it came to his brunette pixie. The crueler he became, the farther he would stray from that ultimate goal of reclaiming her, which only angered him to the point of punishing her for making him want her in the first place. He kept up this self-defeating cycle for months until he reached a point where he couldn't even see the goal post anymore. Initially, had his anger to keep him warm, but anger fades and then you're left with nothing.

.

_**You'll never know how much it hurts to see you sat and cry  
You know you need and want my love yet you're afraid to try  
Why do you run and hide from lies, to try it just ain't smart  
Why cant I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart**_  
.

He tiptoes to the perimeter of his room and watches her through a crack in the door. She's lying perpendicular on his cot with her legs flat up against the wall. Her raven hair is spread out like a fan and slightly hangs off the edge of the mattress in bouncy spirals, swinging with each beat of the song as she taps her delicate fingers against the metal legs of the bed. Jackie's beautiful face is sullen but still gorgeous, her perfect features showing no hint of the rage and sorrow she still has brewing inside of her. A year of practice has made her an expert on controlling her reactions and keeping her true feelings locked down tightly. She used to wear her heart on her sleeve, now it likely sits at home in a "Steven box" tucked far under her bed.

.  
_**There was a time when I believed that you belonged to me  
But now I know your heart is shackled to a memory  
The more I learn to care for you,the more we drift apart  
Why cant I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart**_  
.

"Your eyes aren't getting tired from so much peeping?" she drolls through the crack in the door, fully aware that he's been outside observing her.

.

"I didn't want to disturb you. You looked lost in thought" he says as he slowly enters his room. "So, Hank Williams?" he grins. ""I never would've guessed."

.

"Daddy used to play him for me when I was little. I'd put on my favorite red dress and he'd let me stand on his feet and we'd dance in the parlor together." she confides. "It's one of the only truly happy memories I have of that house."

.

Hyde feels his heart tug at the image of a young, pretty Jackie, basking in her daddy's attention, only to have it ripped away from her a few years later. "I guess it's good you at least have that memory."

.

"Yeah" she says feeling instantly guilty. "I don't suppose you have any of those."

.

He lays down on his back next to her on the bed with knees bent. "I do, believe it or not. I mean, I wasn't twirling around in a red dress in a mansion, but I remember sharing a beer with Bud once when he took me ice fishing, and it was one of the only times I ever felt like he wanted me around" he confesses.

.

Jackie's brow furrows as she turns to him. "Weren't you, like, nine at the time?" she asks.

.

Hyde chuckles as he faces her. "Hey, I never said the memory was legal or appropriate, only good."

.

Overwhelmed with an urge to soothe his damaged psyche, Jackie runs her hands down the sides of his face and gently kisses him on the lips.

.

"What the hell happened to us?" she wonders, mystified. "How did we go so far off course?"

.

"I don't know. I think maybe we wanted the same things but not at the same time" he shrugs.

.

She shakes her head. "We never wanted the same things, Steven. That was our first problem. You and me – we're like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole" she muses, thoughtfully.

.

"You're the square" he smirks as she lightly taps his shin with her bare foot.

.

"I guess I walked into that one" she smiles softly.

.

He takes her hand and interlaces his fingers with hers. "I did want the same things that you wanted. I just didn't realize I wanted them until the option was gone" he confides.

.

Jackie balks. "You never wanted to be married. I truly doubt you wanted to have kids and a house either" she assumes. "And I get why".

.

"Well, it's true I never wanted any of those things. I never thought I'd be good at any of it, and you know I hate to do anything that requires effort," he cracks.

.

Her mouth forms a hard, disapproving line. "No. You don't want to try because you don't want to fail. That's different. You're not lazy, you're just a run-of-the-mill coward."

.

"Ouch." he grimaces, uneasy at how swiftly she has him pegged.

.

"Tell me I'm wrong" she challenges him.

.

He turns away from her, his face in total resign.

.

"Yeah, that's what I thought" she nods.

.

Still looking at the ceiling, he addresses her honestly. "Jackie, I didn't want any of those things in general, but I wanted them with you. You're the only one I could ever see doing any of that kind of stuff with," he admits.

.

Her gut tightens like a fist again as fireflies dance inside of her. Every time she thinks she's gotten out unscathed, he finds new ways of reaching her.

.

"You didn't want those things with Sam?" she asks, nearly choking on the blonde stripper's name.

.

Hyde lets loose a big laugh. "You've got to be kidding me! I kept her around to make sure I didn't try to do any of those things. There's no way in hell I would have raised kids with her. Does she look like mom material to you?"

.

"No, but I'm sure lots of people would probably say the same thing about me. I don't know how a good mom is even supposed to act! Any child that I'd end up having would have an uphill battle for sure. Maybe I'm not even meant to have kids. I wouldn't want to inflict my crazy on a poor unsuspecting child," she rambles, flustered.

.

Hearing Jackie talk this way about herself enrages Hyde. If a guy ever said shit like this to him about her, he'd punch his lights out. He can't exactly do the same to her. He turns to look at her once again. "You listen to me Jackie, you're the kindest person I know with the biggest heart. Any kid would be lucky to have you for a mom. It doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing, you know how to take care of people you love. If either of us had a mom like you'd be, we'd both be a hell of a lot less fucked up."

.

Jackie smiles one of her now-rare, genuine smiles, the kind that reach her eyes and radiate back onto the people around her. Getting her to do that felt better than completing a marathon.

.

"Thank you, Steven," she says, meaning those words more than she has in ages.

.

"I still have five more questions" he says to distract himself from the urge to kiss that brilliant smile until he feels the same way. "Can I start?"

.

"The snow finally stopped falling" she informs him, "so you'd better ask before they're able to dig us out" she warns.

.

"What? Are you planning on bolting out of here as soon as the driveway is clear?" he asks her nervously.

.

"I don't know" she says honestly. "I don't want to, which is probably why I should."

.  
He clears his throat and regains his composure. "So, #16" he jumps right back in. "What's your biggest regret?"

.

"If you had asked me a few days ago, I would have said meeting Steven Hyde" she laughs. "Now, I just regret giving up on you when Sam showed up. You really needed me—even as a friend—and I just let you backslide into an abyss. I should have fought for you, because look what you became without me," she says matter-of-factly and with a true Jackie-esque lack of humility. "It was hard to see you like that, all porn-'stached, angry and drunk. Watching you live like that hurt me worse than anything you may have said to me. You had come too far to turn into Bud" she frowns.

.

Hyde runs his hands over his face. She was thinking of him while he was treating her like roadkill. It's only now starting to dawn on him just how much he was cherished by her. Every time he thinks he's reached the end of the shame hole, he seems to be able to kick out the false bottom and keep digging.

.

"#17 – Do you ever think about the two of us, how we might have been if you'd never taken that job?" he wonders.

.

"That used to be one of my favorite fantasies, but I don't allow myself to think about it too much anymore" she says sadly. "It's just...pointless masochism."

.

"I always thought we'd stay in Point Place" he offers. "I was saving for a house when we broke up, but it didn't really make any sense after you left. I figured it might be nice to live near Kitty and Red, and maybe have a few rugrats."

.

"Can we talk about something else, it's making me feel depressed" she turns her face and scrunches her eyes up, trying to hold back tears.

.

"Sorry" he says, and he actually means it. Hurting her used to give him a jolt, but now it only stings like he's picking at his own wounds. "#18 – Do you still...do you still love me?" he asks, as he holds his breath tightly.

.

She presses her forehead up against his and looks deeply into his eyes. Jackie's never had this kind of unfettered access to Hyde's bare specs, and she's finding the contact addictive. "How is it not completely obvious to you?" she asks with disbelief. "I know boys aren't as smart as girls, but it shouldn't be-"

.

Before she can finish the sentence, Hyde's lips are on hers, hungry and needy, like a starving man at a cruise buffet. She gasps as he consumes her, not even leaving enough room for air to pass between them.

.

He tangles his hands through her berry scented curls, needing to feel her everywhere he can. "Jackie" he moans into her mouth. "I'm miserable without you" he exhales as one of his hands pulls the tie loose on her wrap dress. "I haven't been able to breathe since you left".

.

Hyde's declaration sends her into a haze of lust and longing. She pulls open his dress shirt, ripping the buttons off as she yanks it open to get at what's inside. Her mouth is on his neck, tasting him, feeling his rough stubble rub along the grooves of her tongue as her hands glide over his broad chest and masculine arms.

.

"Tell me" he begs, as he pulls off her dress and unhooks her bra, revealing a great expanse of her creamy olive skin for him to sample. "I want to hear you say it again" he pleads, desperate to feel loved again in a way nobody else has been able to do.

.

Jackie takes his lips with hers and unbuckles his belt, sliding his chords halfway down, and taking his erection in her small hand.

.

He lets out a small groan as she makes contact and begins stroking him.

.

"Jackie, please..." he murmurs into her mouth as she continues rubbing, while sliding her other hand down the back of his pants to grab his ass. "Oh God" he breathes, feeling her surprisingly strong hands do their work.

.

Delirious from desire, he leans down and takes one of her breasts in his mouth, while playing with the other one, making her writhe with want.

.

Not having underwear to remove, she is now completely nude and climbs onto all fours to finish pulling Hyde's pants off of his legs. He watches her intently as she slowly inches down his boxer shorts and greedily takes his erection into her mouth.

.

"Jesus, Jackie" he growls as she envelops him with her soft wet tongue, gently teasing the tip. His hands extend down and gently caress the silky mop on her head, putting him into sensory overload.

.

"No, I want it like this. I want to feel you." he demands, as he eases her mouth off of him after a few minutes. "I want to hear you scream my name as you come" he whispers in her ear, causing goosebumps to erupt everywhere on her body.

.

He reaches down and dips a finger into her, then rhythmically glides over her sensitive places again and again until she's on the edge.

.

"God you're so wet. I want to make you wet inside too" he rasps, making the blood in her body throb and boil.

.

He pulls her on top of him and slowly lowers her down onto him, both of them groaning on first contact. They remain still for a moment, enjoying the sensation of intimacy.

.

"Oh Steven!" Jackie screams as she begins to quiver around him. He's barely moved at all, and she's already over the cliff. Panting, she rides her orgasm out, leaving her dazed and weak-kneed.

.

"Somebody is into this" he grins cheekily as he flips her onto her stomach, knowing she's too weak to take control of things. With one hand snaked around her torso grasping her breast and the other on her hip, he gently enters her again, causing Jackie to pull a sharp intake of air into her lungs, as her newly sensitized core is invaded again.

.

"Are you okay?" he asks as he playfully squeezes her behind.

.

She nods, dizzy and still unable to speak, as he plows into her from behind over and over again until she's convinced she's seeing fireworks behind her closed eyelids.

.

"Say it Jackie" he demands once again as he leans over her back and peppers her spine with gentle kisses. "Tell me" he urges, near breathless from his erotic battering, but she can't speak, as she's too close to losing her mind again.

.

He flips her on her back again, desperate to see her face as she climaxes. He rams into her again from the front, and Jackie whimpers her approval. He pumps away at her over and over, until he has nothing left to give. He leans forward and whispers something into her ear that makes her climax immediately, tightening all around him, taking him over the edge until he erupts inside of her. He empties himself into her as she gives him her body, leaving them both empty husks lying dormant on the same mattress.

.

Both out of breath and sweaty, they pant silently next to one another, until they notice the other's heaving breathing, which sends them both into a fit of giggles as they pull themselves closer together and intertwine their limbs.

.

Hyde moves Jackie's mussed hair out of her face and tucks it behind her ears. She leans forward and kisses him sweetly and without agenda. "Hey" she says to get his attention. "I do...still love you. I'll probably never stop," she admits as she burrows her head into his chest.

.

"That's what I'm banking on." he murmurs into the top of her head as he kisses her there.

.

**A/N – I know having an entire chapter with two characters trapped in a room can be kind of claustrophobic, but that's kind of what I was going for. I didn't think they'd be honest with each other unless they were locked away in solitude somewhere. So—about that smut—did it sizzle or fizzle for you? Please let me know what you think in the reviews section!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Due to the overwhelming response (seriously – THANK YOU!) I am going to continue this ff a little longer—not too much loner, just trying to make it to chapter 20. ****Also—thank you so much for your great feedback and especially your support. I would not be writing as hard as I am if I didn't know people were out there waiting for an update, so : )**

**.**

**BTW—naughty talk but no smut here, so we're holding firm at a T rating for this chapter.**

**.**

**CHAPTER 14**

.

Jackie is lying on her stomach, examining her nails while Hyde tickles her bare back.

.

"I have fieldworker hands now" she frowns, rubbing a thumb over her scabbed index finger.

.

"I don't think I've ever seen you without nail polish" he notes. "I feel like I'm looking at Gene Simmons first thing in the morning" he jokes.

.

Jackie hip checks him him and scowls. " You know, I don't even care anymore. It's hard to keep a manicure when you're running your hands through a sewing machine every day."

.

Hyde laughed. "You care."

.

She shrugged petulantly. "Maybe a little...but it's hard to maintain my usual standard of beauty when I'm working."

.

"Is that where you got that?" he asks, referring to the scabs.

.

"Never try to sew leather after three margaritas" she warns.

.

He leans over and kisses her hurt finger, which makes her smile. "You're really good at it though," he says impressed.

.

"Of course I am. What did you expect?" she grins. "They don't just let anybody into University of Chicago, you know."

.

Hyde regains the familiar sensation of dread that he's been living with for the past 18 months. He's been so wrapped up in rekindling things with Jackie that it completely bypassed his brain that 'getting together' and 'get _back _together' are two very different things. As far as he knows, this could end the minute the city roads are cleared of snow and she steps her foot out of the basement. He closes his eyes and silently prays for a blizzard.

.

He rubs his hand over her pert behind. "I missed this ass" he announces loudly as he bends over to kiss each cheek.

.

"Wow. I think this is the first time you've ever kissed my ass!" she giggles. "And people said you couldn't be tamed," she snarks, wiggling her behind to tempt him.

.

He gives her an amused smirk. "Well, this may be the closest you get to me kissing your ass, but I'm going to treat you better from now on, doll. I promise" he says, kissing her behind once again.

.

Jackie stiffens, and opens her mouth to say something to him with a concerned look on her face.

.

"I know what you're going to say and it's cool" he says, cutting her off. "Let's just have a good day together" he smiles, even though he's dying on the inside.

.

He knew it was too good to be true. Of course she doesn't want anything more with him. Why would she? He doesn't deserve a second chance (or fourth for that matter) with her and he definitely doesn't deserve the kind of devotion that would make a woman like Jackie give up a real opportunity to stay in Point Place with him. She said it herself, she regrets not going to Chicago every day and she resents him for it. As much as he'd give his last joint to keep her with him, he's not deluded enough to think she'd gamble her future again on a bum like him.

.

Jackie is deep in thought. In her mind, there isn't a thing that could keep her from going to college, but her body is a bigger traitor than Benedict Arnold. Lying in the small cot, pressed up against Hyde's warm chest, feels she's finally come home again. During her junior year when she pin-balled from her abandoned mansion to the basement to Donna's house all over the course of one year, she felt like a woman without a country. With her dad in jail and her mom banging half of the domestic staff workers in Mexico, the only constant in her life then was Steven. Losing him was like an exodus into the desert. Finding her way back feels a lot like a mirage.

.

Which feels worse: fooling yourself into believing in something fabulous is on the horizon or forcing yourself into acknowledging that you're hopelessly lost in the sand? Having spent the better part of a year wandering the dunes, she's ready for the fantasy, even if it makes her a fool.

.

Jackie flips over and runs a finger down his collar bone, down the valley of his chest and stops in his navel. "I'm glad we made up" she says.

.

Hyde lifts a finger and starts tracing her collar bone as well. "Me too. You're hard to stay mad at."

.

"Well sir" she says, "you did an admirable job of trying" she jokes, cutting a little too close to the bone.

.

His chest tightens at the reminder.

.

"Sorry" she mumbles quietly.

.

"You didn't let me finish. What I was saying, is that you're hard to stay mad at...when you're lying next to me naked." He leans over and lets his lips lightly brush over hers, causing her to strain upwards to force more contact. "I think I'm ready to make up with you again."

.

She sighs with longing "Yes...but maybe later on. Everybody is probably wondering where we've been and what we've been up to."

.

He tilts his head to look at her and smiles his cheekiest grin. "I'm pretty sure they all know the answer to both of those questions. Being with you is like having sex with a fire engine."

.

Jackie purses her lips in mock offense. "Well, I assure you that I am more than capable of being deadly silent next time. It will be like making love to a corpse."

.

Hyde chuckles and then leans in to whisper in her ear. "As appealing as that sounds, I really like making you scream," he murmurs against her skin as he runs his hand up her inner thigh.

.

Jackie's insides melt and pool. She narrows her eyes, now clouded over by passion, and bites her bottom lip seductively. "You're too charming for your own good, but I'm still going to take a rain-check," she says. "After all, there are a lot of people that I came here to see."

.

"See them some other time" he demands as his hand inches up towards the apex of her thighs.

.

She leans up, runs her fingers through his hair, pulls his head roughly to her and kisses him hard, nearly knocking the wind out of him.

.

"Jesus" Hyde murmurs against her lips.

.

Suddenly, she stops. "I'm going to need to borrow some clothes" she declares as she sits up and then hops out of his bed.

.

"What the hell, Jackie?" he grumbles, his lower half now uncomfortable with pressure.

.

"I said rain-check, didn't I?" she miffs. "I swear, you never did listen to half the stuff that came out of my mouth," she complains as she rummages through his drawers.

.

He watches her mutter to herself and can't help but smile like an idiot. Yeah, she's a pain in the ass, but damn it if he doesn't find her bitchiness hot.

.

She pulls out a Led Zeppelin IV t-shirt and a pair of his boxer shorts. "These'll have to do, I guess," she announces, slipping the shirt over her head.

.

Hyde frowns and puts his hand on her forearm to keep her on the bed. "I liked you better in what you just had on."

.

"You're what I just had on, Steven" she flirts, running her hand down his chest.

.

"Yeah, I know." he says exasperatedly.

.

"Come on. If you get up now, I'll make it worth your while later" she coos, ticking him under his jaw.

.

He looks at her stony-faced. "I will hold you to that" he promises.

.

She bats her eyes at him. "That was kind of the idea."

.

* * *

.

The door of Hyde's room opens and the renewed couple emerges self-consciously.

.

"They're alive!" Donna exclaims happily.

.

"Aww yeah!" Kelso screams, complete with rude hand gestures. "Somebody just got laid!"

.

"Finally! I thought we were going to have to pull the fire alarm to get the two of you out of that room" Fez complains.

.

"We had, erm, stuff to discuss" Jackie says with embarrassment.

.

"Yeah Jackie, we heard you doing a lot of discussing. I believe you were talking to God a lot..." Eric jokes.

.

Hyde holds his palm up. "Alright, settle down dummies. You act like you've never heard two people getting it on before" he grumbles, sitting in his usual chair. "At least everybody hasn't _seen_ us doing it, Forman."

.

"Hey!" he complains feebly as Donna looks towards the floor.

.

"And you, my pervie friend, have seen everybody in this room do it" he directs at Fez.

.

Fez shrugs "This is true".

.

"And our entire high school has seen Kelso get it on in multiple locations" Hyde accuses.

.

Kelso laughs. "I got around _quite _a bit" he says proudly.

.

Brooke just shakes her head with disgust.

.

"Right. So everybody can just shut up about Jackie and me" he orders them. "Unless you want me to get frog-happy?" he threatens.

.

Kelso and Fez immediately cease their staring and talk amongst themselves.

.

Hyde catches Jackie's eye from across the room and winks at her. A warm feeling overtakes her body and she feels light. With a twinkle in her eye, she marches over to her man and claims her old seat on his lap. His arms snake around her waist and pull in her into his torso tightly. Yep, this is home.

.

The rest of the gang watches this exchange with vested interest.

.

"Wow! It feels like 1978 all over again. Like a time warp," Donna shouts, before turning swiftly to face Fez. "That is not an invitation to sing Rocky Horror on the karaoke machine," she says sternly.

.

Jackie's ears perk up. "Fez has a karaoke machine?"

.

"My dad got one for an early Christmas present from some friends of his. It's been like having Garfunkle hanging out in my living room on a nightly basis" she says making a face.

.

"Did you bring it here?" she asks her blonde friend excitedly.

.

Hyde groans. He can feel what's coming next.

.

"Oh relax" Jackie snaps at him. "Nobody said they wanted to hear you sing."

.

"I thought you liked my singing. You liked it enough earlier..." he smiles smugly at her.

.

"Does that mean you'll-?" she starts.

.

"No" he interrupts, knowing what she's about to ask.

.

"But-" she pushes.

.

"No" he says firmly.

.

"You never-" she whines.

.

"No" he stays resolute.

.

"Pleeeease?" she pouts, bringing out her not-so-secret weapon.

.

His facade breaks. "Fine" he snaps, "but only for you, and not until we're alone".

.

Jackie squeals and leans over to kiss him.

.

"Awwwww!" Donna and Eric erupt in unison, mocking their friends' affection.

.

Hyde rolls his eyes.

.

Fez smiles. "It finally feels like everything is back to normal again".

.

"Yeah. Too bad we have to go back to Chicago in a few days" Brooke says sadly.

.

There it is again: Chicago. Steven Hyde officially hates that fucking town now. It's like his Moby Dick. He turns to look at Brooke and shoots rockets at her with his mind for bringing it up. Is this the only city that exists?

.

"Did you guys end up making a bid on that house you wanted?" Jackie asks Brooke.

.

She shakes her head. "No. By the time we gave them a number it was already in contract. Que sera sera," she pouts in Kelso's direction.

.

Donna looks at Brooke and Jackie and a light goes off. She turns to Kelso. "You knew where Jackie was this whole time, didn't you?" she accuses him angrily.

.

"Um...what?" Kelso asks, playing dumb.

.

"How does Jackie know about a house you were looking at in Chicago if she just got here yesterday?" she questions him like he's in the defendant's chair. "It's not like you bid on a house on Christmas Eve."

.

"J'accuse!" Eric stands, pointing at Kelso.

.

"Is he yelling at me in Clingon?" He looks helplessly at Brooke. "Eric, I told you I'm not that good at Star Wars!"

.

Eric is suddenly irate. "For the last time, Kelso, Clingon is Star _Trek_, not Star Wars. And before you ask, no - Chewbacca is not a Clingon. And I was speaking French, by the way. Jeez!" he huffs.

.

Donna shoots Eric a stern look "Can you focus please?"

.

"Sorry" Eric mumbles apologetically.

.

"Kelso, did you know where Jackie was?" she asks, not bothering to rephrase the question.

.

Kelso shrieks in fear.

.

"Yes! Yes! He knew, alright?" Jackie screams from the sanctuary of Hyde's lap. "Why are you so mad anyway? It's not like any of you cared where I was anyway. You were just happy I was gone." her breath hitches on the last word.

.

Hydes arms relax from her waist and drop to his sides.

.

Jackie looks at him nervously. "I know you cared. But honestly, we live in Point Place. It wouldn't have taken too much to find me if you really wanted to," she says quietly near his ear.

.

He remains silent, unable to look her in the face.

.

"Say something" she whispers to him, her voice growing shaky.

.

"There's nothing to say doll, because you're right. And I did. I knew where you were living, but I was too chicken shit to do anything about it," he confesses quietly, only to her.

.

Jackie brings his head to her chest and hugs him tightly. "It's okay. That's all done now," she murmurs into his hair.

.

He smiles at her secretly with just his eyes and winds his arms around her once again.

.

"Jackie" Donna ventures uneasily. "Can we talk alone?"

.

The brunette beauty nods and hops off her lover's lap, keeping contact with his hands for as long as possible before following Donna to the kitchen.

.

* * *

.

Jackie flops into a chair unceremoniously and waits for Donna to speak.

.

"I know we already went over this" she says, "but that was before I was aware that Brooke and Michael knew where you were this whole time."

.

The pixie knits her brow and asks "What does this change for you, exactly?"

.

"Well, before it seemed like you were just mad at everybody and wanted to get away, but now I feel more like it was particularly me you were trying to avoid," she divulges. "I mean, I know why you kept it from Hyde. I also get why you wouldn't tell Fez either, seeing as he was mad at you for leading him on," she says. "You and Eric were never close, so that just leaves Kelso and me. You told Kelso where you were though, so I can only assume that I must've hurt you worse than I thought."

.

Jackie takes a deep breath before addressing her friend. "You did. I'm not going to lie to you. You're like a sister to me, and sometimes a mom, even. I was very sad about it for a very long time, but you know what? I'm sick of dwelling. I don't want to look back anymore. And I mean, if I can forgive Steven, I sure as hell can forgive you. You didn't marry a stripper, after all...though you did have a pair of satin, high-waisted shorts that I should have disowned you for wearing. I mean, satin sportswear, Donna? Seriously? You know satin makes you look lumpy."  
.

Donna laughs before grabbing Jackie's hand. "I'm really really sorry. You mean more to me than you think you do. Promise me you won't disappear again."

.

She looks down. "I can't promise I won't leave, but I promise you'll always know how to find me," she smiles.

.

"So...um, speaking of Hyde and second chances...care to spill?" she prods, digging for information.

.

"Well, you were right, He has changed. I don't know what it all means, but I don't care. I just want to feel happy again. I can worry about the details later," she says waving her hand.

.

"But you're still moving to Chicago?" she asks.

.

Jackie looks at her like she's nuts. "Of course I am. I'm not insane," she balks at the suggestion that she might stay.

.

"Oh. I mean, does Hyde know this?" Donna asks gently.

.

"Well, he knows about school and he hasn't asked me to stay...we haven't discussed it really...or at all" she reveals. "Too soon".

.

Jackie has a sudden and sharp pang of guilt hit her squarely in the gut but then immediately brushes it aside, angry at herself for being weak.

.

"Would you stay if he asked?" she wonders.

.

"Would you stay home and take another year off from college if Eric asked?" Jackie challenges.

.

"No. I wouldn't, and you shouldn't either. You did it once and you got nothing for your sacrifice. I'm still trying to get over my resentment and I didn't turn down anything nearly as cool as what you gave up. If Hyde wants you, he should be the one to make a sacrifice this time," Donna decides, her feminist leanings finally kicking in.

.

"All this future talk is crazy anyway. I mean, we just got together, and I don't even think we're_ together_ together. I mean, I don't really know what this is," she admits, flustered by her own confusion.

.

"But you love him, right" Donna asks pointedly.

.

Jackie blushes. "God help me, lumberjack, I really do".

.

**A/N – Okay, how'd I do? Sound off in the reviews section and let me know. Thanks so much for sticking with this ff!**


	15. Chapter 15

**WARNING: SMUT ALERT! This chapter is rated M for serious smutty smut. The dirty stuff begins when they enter the garage for the 2nd time, so you can read safely until then before having to cover your eyes. Of course, you can always just keep them open...**

**.**

**CHAPTER 15**

**.**

Donna and Jackie drink cocoa while sitting at the table. They stare at each other for a moment and then erupt in serious, hysterical laughter.

.

"That did not happen" Donna says, doubting her friend's story.

.

"Oh it happened" Jackie promises. "And not only did it happen, but it happened twice".

.

Donna buries her face in her hands. "I did not need that image burned into my brain".

.

Hyde walks into the room at the tail end of the conversation carrying some of Jackie's clothes in his arms. "What are you two magpies gossiping about?" he asks suspiciously.

.

"Caddyshack" Donna and Jackie answer simultaneously. They look at each other in surprise. "Nice" they both smile and nod as they speak again at the same time.

.

"Jinx" Jackie shouts, pointing at the blonde.

.

"Well, um, sorry to break up your little gossip session, but Jackie is needed out front in the garage" he informs them.

.

"Mr. Forman is looking for me?" she asks.

.

He looks at her lasciviously. "Sure. We'll go with that."

.

Donna tries to stifle an amused smile. "Okay kids. Don't mind me, but I'm just going to go downstairs to check on my man-child," she says as she walks towards the basement, carrying her mug.

.

Jackie notices Donna mocking her with a kissy face out of the corner of her eye and shakes her head. She then looks in Hyde's direction. "Does our girl talk worry you or something?" she asks. "Believe me, what I had to say will only improve your reputation."

.

"Of course it will." Hyde grins devilishly as he helps Jackie up from her chair and hands her a pair of jeans and a sweater. "Put these on" he orders.

.

Without asking why, she slips her sweater over Hyde's shirt and pulls off his boxers, replacing them with her jeans. He grabs her snow boots from the mat just inside the sliding glass door and helps her into them. He then puts her coat on for her.

.

"You warm enough?" he asks, pulling her woolly hat down over her ears. She nods compliantly. "Come on, we're leaving." he says, guiding her to the door by her elbow.

.

"Oh we're really doing this? I thought it was just misdirection to get me alone" she says.

.

He slides the glass door open. "Everybody in this house heard us banging this afternoon, Jackie. No misdirection necessary."

.

"You're more genteel than Robbie Benson in 'Ice Castles'." she snorts as he ushers her by her slender shoulders outside towards the garage. "Where are you taking me?" she questions him.

.

"Stop asking questions" he tells her.

.

"Are you trying to get me to fix your car for you?" she wonders.

.

"Stop digging for information" he scolds.

.

"Where do you expect us to drive to when the roads are all blocked?" she challenges, hoping to trick him into some details.

.

He stops walking and turns her around to face him. "Zip it" he orders.

.

"Make me" she smiles coyly.

.

Hyde shakes his head, amused by her gumption. "Oh I plan to, just not right now."

.

They walk into the garage and he starts digging around in the back for something.

.

"I love surprises!" she chirps, bouncing up and down to warm herself up.

.

Hyde smirks as he pulls something metal from the back, scraping it along the concrete floor. "No. You think you love surprises, but you don't. You don't like anything you can't plan yourself" he retorts.

.

Jackie purses her lips in thought. "I suppose you're right, but I really am the best at planning surprises for myself."

.

He drags a large sled to the driveway in front of the garage and dusts it off with a rag. "Thought you might like a ride."

.

Jackie covers her mouth with her hands. "Oh my God, Steven! This is so romantic!" she turns to him. "Are you...baked right now?" she gently questions.

.

Hyde puffs out a breath. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised you think I have to be high to do something nice for you." he says, embarrassment sweeping his face.

.

She looks down at the ground. "No, it's just...this usually isn't your kind of thing."

.

Watching her try to think up the right euphemism to excuse his past bad behavior makes his cheeks burn hot with shame. It amazes him that even after the way he mistreated her, she still goes out of her way to avoid hurting his feelings. He wonders why he could never bring himself to return the favor. God knows she could have used the support.

.

"It is now" he says with conviction as he lifts her threshold style into the cab of the sled and begins pulling her towards destinations unknown.

.

Despite the bitter cold, Jackie's insides vibrate with warmth. In her wildest dreams, she never anticipated that her ex would put so much effort into doing something romantic just to make her happy. She quietly wonders if this is a permanent change or just the holiday spirit possessing him. Either way, she pushes those thoughts out of her mind and tries to enjoy the moment for what it is. He always used to get pissed off when she was too busy thinking about the future to enjoy the present, and though she hates to admit it to herself, but he was right.

.

After having absolutely nothing in her life go according to plan, she's been trying to learn to take each day as it comes and not question how it fits into the grand scheme of things. People may think she's shallow, but they have no idea. She would trade all of the natural gifts she was born with in exchange for a feeling of peace and a shot at true happiness. At this point, she'll take what she can get.

.

During those rare times that she had the guts to complain to her mother about being neglected, her mom would always respond by saying that 'God doesn't give with both hands'. She always thought this was just her mother's way of cutting her down and making her feel ugly or stupid, but she knows now that her mom was actually referring to herself. Pam Burkhart may have been blessed with great beauty, wealth and an expensive education, but she was denied all of the other things that make life worth living. Perhaps Pam wasn't insulting her daughter, but rather...warning her?

.

With an old rope tossed over his shoulder, Hyde trudges through the snow, pulling his lost love behind him. Deep longing tugs at Jackie's loins as she watches his strong arms flex and tighten as he grips the lead. Her eyes fall on his taut behind and her rhythmic breathing increases as her desire for him builds. Feeling her gaze, her shepherd glances over his shoulder and winks at her. She finds herself struggling to stay lucid as her brain clouds over with lust. She guesses this is what happens when you don't have sex for over a year.

.

Sliding to a stop, Hyde drops the rope and circles around to extract Jackie from the sled. He lifts her high out of the carrier, but before he has a chance to put her down, she wraps her legs tightly around his waist. Slightly out of breath from his work-out, he sways for a moment, before securing her neatly against his body.

.

"What's happening here?" he smiles as he slides his hands under her behind for support.

.

Jackie shrugs and then leans forward to kiss him. She takes off one glove and runs her fingers over the nape of his neck and then through his hair. His face is ruddy from exercise and slick with a thin layer of sweat that rubs against her cheek as she buries her head into his neck to nuzzle him. The salty tang of his skin fills her mouth and she finds it strangely intoxicating. The old Jackie would have been too uptight and vain to get a little messy from fooling around, but nowadays she knows you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.

.

Hyde moans softly as he withstands his ex's kissing assault. Getting carried away, she unwraps his scarf, letting it fall gently to the ground and begins to rapidly unbutton his coat.

.

"Woah" he says, halting her from going any further. "As much as I want to do this, I don't think we should risk hypothermia and frostbite."

.

"I'm not worth a few amputated fingers?" she pouts, a look of frustration flashing across her multicolored eyes as she unfurls her legs.

.

"I wasn't really thinking about my fingers, doll" he says as he struggles to hold himself back, a Herculean effort considering the way this girl looks at him when she's feeling horny.

.

"Well, I guess I wouldn't want anything to happen to that either" she purrs, tickling under his chin with her glove-free hand.

.

He pulls off one of his own gloves and interlaces his fingers with hers, then tucks both of them into his side coat pocket as he leads her along a snow bank.

.

"I'm starting to glisten Steven, which as you know I totally _love_," she says sarcastically, "so this surprise had better be worth it" she warns.

.

"Shut up and walk, Jackie" he laughs as he brings her to the site of his big surprise.

.

Jackie surveys the area then looks at him with utter confusion. "My surprise is the water tower?" she asks, disappointment starting to seep in.

.

He wraps his arms around her from behind and points to the silo. "You remember how to read dummy, don't you?" he ribs.

.

She looks up and notices giant letters to the lower right of the pot leaf that read **'S.J.H + J.B.B.'**

.

"I would've put our whole names but it's about -20 up there with the wind chill and I was freezing my nads off" he explains.

.

The pocket-sized beauty turns around and throws her arms around his neck. "When did you do this?" she wonders. "You've been with me all day".

.

Hyde looks away with uncharacteristic bashfulness. "Last week" he mumbles.

.

Jackie's eyes grow wide with shock. "You did this _last_ week? How did you even know that I would show up or that we would- -?"

.

"I didn't" he says plainly. "All I know is that this is how I feel about you and I don't really give a shit who else knows about it. I should have done this for you years ago. Better late than never, right?"

.

Tears well in Jackie's eyes as she launches herself at him, crashing her lips against his hungrily, her body thick with want for him. She pulls his scarf off again and tugs frantically at his coat buttons as her mouth works it's way down the front of his throat.

.

"Damn..." he breathes as he musters the resolve to wrestle her off of him again.

.

"Are you kidding me?" she shouts at him, banging her tiny fists against his chest in annoyance.

.

Hyde chuckles at her eagerness. "Hop on my back and we'll leave the sled here. It'll be faster".

.

"Oh, I'm gonna hop on your back, all right" she threatens seductively as she climbs into piggyback position, wrapping her legs and arms tightly around him.

.

He runs his hands under her ass and gives it a little squeeze before taking off at top speed towards the Formans' house.

.

* * *

.

Hyde lowers Jackie onto the driveway and chases her inside of the garage, pulling the main gate shut behind them.

.

Jackie locks the back door and strips her coat, gloves and sparkly red holiday sweater off, leaving her in just a hat, bra and her skin tight jeans.

.

Hyde approaches her from across the room with lust in his eyes and carefully removes his gloves, tugging at each finger separately, making her wait.

.

Irritated by his sloth, she reaches out and grabs him by the scarf, savagely pulling him in closer before finally stripping his coat from his body.

.

He slips one hand down the front of her jeans, causing her to moan on contact. "Eager" he whispers in a low voice. "I see you're still going commando in these jeans" he says with a raised eyebrow.

.

"Are you complaining?" She asks as she quickly snatches his sunglasses from his face before he has a chance to stop her.

.

"Pretty shifty, doll" he scolds her with an underlying hint of pride.

.

She bats her eyes innocently as she tosses them softly on top of his coat.

.

"How do you want it?" he asks her, as he continues to tease her with his hand.

.

Her breath hitches as her pleasure builds. "Fast and dirty" she manages to force out before a whimper escapes her lips.

.

"I could get off just watching you" he whispers hotly in her ear as he tweaks her firm nipple through the material of her bra.

.

He unhooks her bra and flings it on to the ground, and she responds by lifting his t-shirt off as well.

.

He turns her around and caresses her breasts from behind with one hand while continuing to probe her with the other.

.

He buries his wet mouth into her neck, causing her to shiver with each lingering kiss. Between the frigid temperature of the garage and the skill of Steven's fingers, she is shaking like a leaf.

.

"Put your hands on the car" he growls as he bends her over the hood of the Vista cruiser.

.

Her breathing speeds up as she hears him unbuckle his belt and feels him lean his firmness into her, using his body weight to press her naked breasts into the cold hard steel of the car. He carefully peels her jeans down half way and lowers his chest onto her back to warm her. "You ready?" he checks as he pulls her hair to the side, to provide access to her sweet mouth.

.

She nods slowly and he can see a small smile spread across her lips. He can tell already that holding off is going to be a challenge this time.

.

He sweeps his hands over the silky skin of her behind before hooking them in front of her hips, which he angles upwards. "Hang on" he instructs her and she curls her fingers around the ridge of the hood.

.

He takes a deep breath and sinks roughly into her core with a low groan, causing Jackie to gasp loudly and whisper his name. "You feel so good, baby," he says as he fells her warmth envelop him.

.

He pumps away relentlessly, as deep and as hard as they can both withstand. Her body is pinned so tightly against the hood of the cruiser that she can barely breath, her fingers white-knuckling the sides of the hood to keep from sliding off.

.

"Jackie, you're so damn beautiful" he pants as he pulls her hips sharply towards his pelvis, knowing full-well they would both be earning some bruises from this.

.

"Steeeven" she moans in ecstasy as he brings her closer to completion.

.

"God I missed you" he grunts as he continues stroking her insides hard. "I love you so much Jackie" he says, words tumbling aimlessly from his lips without the aid of a censor.

.

"Oh God" she cries, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Please..."

.

"I want you" he yells into her back, "Don't leave me" he pleads recklessly under his breath.

.

"Don't stop, please don't stop!" she begs as he slams into her harder.

.

Watching this goddess writhe beneath him, Hyde feels like the luckiest bastard in the universe. Never in a million years did he dare to hope that he'd have the chance to be inside of her again, much less have her gagging for it this badly. He wants her to truly feel him, to know the things he has trouble expressing any other way but this.

.

Jackie curses his name loudly as he pushes her past her breaking point, pleasure overwhelming all of her senses and wiping her brain of all thoughts but him.

.

She shakes beneath him as he joins her, emptying into her, letting himself go - all of his fears, struggles and pain are a distant memory and all he can see in front of him right now is this woman who has haunted his life like a ghost. If only he could really let himself go. That would be the greatest high of all.

.

They remain frozen in place, both recovering from their mind-blowing encounter. Hyde pulls her closer to him, letting himself be comforted by the delicate sound of her heart beating through her back.

.

Jackie lifts her head, squirming gently out of his grasp. "I'm having trouble breathing" she says apologetically. "You're not light."

.

"Sorry" he mumbles clumsily as he lifts himself off of her and break their intimate contact below.

.

She flips over onto her back to look up into his uncovered eyes. "That was...wow" she shakes her head. "Blue ribbon all the way," she blurts out, for lack of a better description. She giggles girlishly as her hair spreads out dramatically across the hood of the car.

.

Hyde laughs. "Blue ribbon, eh?' he grins, letting her explore his clear, cerulean eyes without limitation.

.

An awkward silence passes between them.

.

She shifts her weight and begins playing with the curls on the back of his neck. "You've been uncharacteristically, um, vocal" she begins, not knowing what to say or how to say it.

.

He sighs inwardly, knowing where this conversation is headed. He's never been on this end of the discussion though, so it should prove to be very enlightening.

.

"You know, I find it funny. For two years you would always tell me how much you loved me, and I wasn't man enough to say it back. Now that I finally grew a pair, you can't bring yourself to do it anymore, can you?" he asks.

.

Jackie's face constricts as she fields conflicting emotions. "It's not that I don't feel it, I do. It's just that for so long, I couldn't let myself feel anything for you, because I knew you didn't feel the same way about me. I trained myself to push those things aside, and it's just hard to let myself go now."

.

Hyde exhales hoarsely as he brings his hands to either side of her head. "Of course I felt those things. If I could go back..."

.

"But you can't go back" she replies. "It is what it is and we just have to deal with what's in front of us" she says decisively. "No matter how much we might wish it were otherwise," she says softly as she begins to pick her clothes up and get dressed.

.

"Can I ask you something, doll?" he starts apprehensively, too nervous to ask but too desperate for answers not to.

.

"Is this a regular question or one of the 20 questions?" she teases.

.

"Well, I really want an answer, so let's make it official. #19 – Do you think...would you ever consider giving us another shot?" he holds his breath to wait for an answer.

.

Her heart speeds up and she can hear it loudly beating away in her ears, like a marching band. "I, um, I don't know really."

.

He braces himself for battle and looks earnestly into her eyes. "Today has been the best day I've had since the last day you and I spent together and every day in-between the two has been absolute crap. I don't want to stop feeling this good," he confesses, knowing he has to reveal more than he's comfortable with in order for her to understand his commitment. He's prepared to sing like a jailbird if it will keep her from walking out the door.

.

"Me too" she says as the corners of her mouth begin to pick up slightly. "But I'm scared".

.

Hyde takes a yet another deep breath and jumps into the deep end. "I'm scared too," he admits.

.

Jackie's eyes register her surprise. "You're scared? Of me?"

.

He shrugs. "It may have seemed like I was fine when I was with Sam, but I was far from fine. I kind of felt..." he takes a moment to gear up. "I was lost without you. I really didn't know who I was when I was with her," he admits begrudgingly.

.

She smiles and her eyes sparkle with admiration for him risking to open up. "Go on," she urges.

.

He smiles and shakes his finger at her. "You're loving this a little too much."

.

She raises an eyebrow at him. "Well I'm entitled to, considering it's never happened before. I believe you were saying something about what I do for you..."

.

He rubs the back of his neck with the palm of his hand, stalling to build some courage. "It's not just what you do for me Jackie. I don't want you to think that. I like taking care of you too, it made me feel good. I liked it when you were my responsibility."

.

"Come on" she blurts out incredulously. "You always acted like it was such a drag to do anything for me. I had to beg and bribe you to do the smallest things".

.

"I didn't know what was best for me," he says, leaning against the cruiser with his jeans still undone. "You make me feel things and I don't feel things, that's not my thing," he admits bravely. "But I know it's good for me and I'm afraid that if you leave again, I'm just gonna be numb again and turn into something I'm not proud of. I mean, I know I don't have a lot to offer you, but-"

.

"What are you talking about?" she asks, completely bewildered. "Before we started up, I was so used to relying on my looks for things that I didn't even think to question whether I was good for anything other than that. You demanded more from me and it made me want to be more," she reveals. "I mean, there are tons of hot chicks out there, but you wanted to be with me, which made me think that if a deep hippie like you wanted me, I must be more than just a pretty face. You're the only one who ever told me I could do anything with my life besides marry well. You gave me confidence," she says emphatically, then turns to look at her feet "but then you kind of took it all away."

.

Like a knife twisting in his gut, her words tear up his insides. He paces one lap around the garage and then turns away from her, unable to face her directly as tears threaten to sting his eyes. "I didn't know. I mean, that's not true, I did know. I did it on purpose, but I wasn't even aware it was happening. Look, I was scared shitless you'd leave me and figured as long as I you thought I was pulling away, you'd fight for me and you'd stay," he explains with labored breathing. "I knew you would fight and I knew that I couldn't. But I am now."

.

Jackie is speechless. She'd always felt deep down that he was doing this to her, but always assumed it was just in her imagination until this moment. Anger rises hot inside her chest and her hands reflexively clench in an effort to keep herself in line. "And you had the audacity to call _me _manipulative? You screwed with my head and made me think I was barely enough to keep you around!"

.

Regaining his composure, Hyde takes her hand, flattening it out again. He looks directly into her eyes, leaving himself completely vulnerable. "Look Jackie, I know my life is going to suck without you in it, but I won't...I won't bother you if I make you feel like shit about yourself. I only want to make you feel good from now on babydoll, I swear. I'll do anything it takes."

.

She locks eyes with him as she worries her bottom lip. "You really love me?"

.

He nods tightly.

.

Like a long nasty spell that has been broken, all of Jackie's anger begins to slowly melt away, freeing her from it's tight grip. Looking at him, she just knows. He means everything he's saying and he does in fact, much to her surprise, actually love her.

.

She licks her lips and swallows hard to quench her dry throat. "Okay, we can try" she says softly and before she can utter another word, his mouth crashes against hers in a searing kiss.

.

**A/N – I know I know. Another angsty chapter. I promise from here on in, you will get some lighter stuff. So-what did you think? Did the smut work for you? Was the confession scene okay? Please review and let me know!**


	16. Chapter 16

**This chapter is rated T. No smut here—sorry.**

**.**

**Thanks again for leaving all of the reviews and for all the 'favorite's—they really push me to keep going. I love knowing people are out there actually reading this! **

**.**

**CHAPTER 16**

.

Jackie and Hyde walk into the kitchen only to find they've wandered smack dab in the middle of a ruckus.

.

She shoots him a confused look and he shrugs cluelessly. Nobody seems to notice them entering the kitchen with the activity level at such a fevered pitch.

.

Taking advantage of their anonymity amongst the distraction, Hyde presses Jackie up against the glass door and kisses her tenderly.

.

She gives him a secret smile as he runs his thumb across her lips and shakes his head. "You're gonna kill me one day, Jackie Burkhart."

.

She laughs. "Probably. But you'd be going out in style."

.

He smiles and kisses her again, then leans to whisper in her ear "I want to get you alone."

.

She starts coughing loudly. "I can barely walk right now, Steven. The shop is closed until morning."

.

He smirks, slightly proud of himself for wearing her out. "Feel free to say that again and louder in front of the others when we get to the basement."

.

Suddenly, Kitty notices the two of them from across the room and flocks over. "What's happening here?"

.

"Just having a chat, Mrs. Forman" he answers, trying to deflect attention.

.

"Do you normally chat with somebody by shoving your tongue down their throat?" she laughs gleefully.

.

Hyde is frozen in place. "You saw that?"

.

"You two haven't gotten together again, have you?" she probes, hoping upon hope.

.

Hyde shrugs as Jackie looks pointlessly at the ceiling.

.

"Oh my God, you've gotten together! Red! Steven and Jackie got back together!" she screams at the top of her lungs and starts clapping frantically. "I knew it! I _knew_ it! I told you this would happen if I invited her here!" she vibrates with excitement until she notices the new couple completely knocked out by the news that they were set up.

.

Kitty leans over and pats Jackie on the side of the arm. "Of course, we really wanted you here, dear. Not just for Steven. For, um...conversation" she says in a sing-singy voice as she retreats quickly to the living room to spread the news.

.

"That was interesting" she says, completely freaked out.

.

He grabs her hand and leads her into the basement. "Come on".

.

* * *

.

As they make their way down the stairs, they notice all of their friends hugging Donna and patting Eric on the back.

.

"What's with all the commotion, Forman?" Hyde asks before he reaches the bottom of the stairs.

.

"Well, Donna and I..." Eric starts.

.

"Steven, mistletoe" Jackie interrupts as she points upwards.

.

He holds up one finger to the gang and lays a kiss on his woman then turns back to Eric. "You were saying?"

.

Eric turns to Donna, completely mystified by the reunified couple. "It doesn't get less unnatural with time, does it?"

.

"Sadly, no" Donna responds.

.

"Shut up Forman and tell me what's up" he complains.

.

"We're getting married!" Donna squeals, showing off her ring.

.

"Wow! Really?" Jackie asks, breaking away from Hyde to check out the ring. "Congratulations!"

.

"Three times lucky" Hyde says obnoxiously.

.

"Steven!" Jackie admonishes him.

.

"Sorry" he bites out as he holds his hands up in surrender.

.

The entire gang looks at this exchange suspiciously.

.

"Did you just apologize, Hyde?" Eric asks, having trouble believing what he's just witnessed.

.

Hyde shrugs and pushes his glasses farther back onto his nose.

.

"Because she ordered you to?" Eric asks, disgusted.

.

"She fucked me into submission, man. What am I gonna do?" he quips, not seemingly bothered by it.

.

"Steven!" Jackie shouts angrily and buries her face in her hands with embarrassment.

.

Eric dry heaves.

.

"Congratulations, man" Hyde says as he hugs Eric.

.

"Show me the ring" Jackie demands.

.

Donna holds her hand out for the little pixie to survey.

.

"Not bad this time" she says, much to Eric's relief. "Not bad at all." she smiles. "Not good either, but definitely not bad."

.

Eric deflates.

.

"Hey Jackie" Donna starts. "I was thinking...maybe you'd be interested in, I don't know, making my wedding dress?"

.

Jackie's eyes widen. "Are you serious?"

.

"Yeah. Of course. I think you're really talented, and it would mean a lot to have you do it" she says.

.

Jackie smiles, feeling included and valued for the first time in 18 months. "I'll do it" she decides. "It'll be my wedding present to you."  
.

"That's awesome!" Donna exclaims. "And um...while you're at it...maybe you could also make my maid of honor dress."

.

"Is she an uggo? You have to tell me in advance so I know how much 'Jackie Magic' I need to bring to the table. I mean, if she's fat I don't know how much I'm going to be able to do. I'm not a miracle worker yet." she warns. "We can arrange a time for her to come to my apartment and I'll take care of it" Jackie offers.

.

"That shouldn't be too hard, since she lives at your house" the blonde explains.

.

The petite beauty looks momentarily confused. "Donna, are you asking me to be your maid of honor?"

.

"I know it's kind of weird because we haven't spoken in a year, but I can't really think of anybody else I'd rather have," she admits.

.

"Aww" Jackie puts her hand over her heart. "Are you sure?"

.

"You don't have any other chick friends, do you Donna?" Hyde asks pointedly.

.

Donna is sheepish. "I still would have asked Jackie, I swear!"

.

Jackie shrugs. "Oh well, it's a wedding. You know I can't say no to those."

.

Hyde shifts uncomfortably on his feet.

.

"Oh relax Steven. Nobody wants to marry_ you_. You'll be lucky if you get a 2nd date." she balks.

.

He grins and brings her hand to his mouth for a kiss. "I missed this."

.

"Of course you did" she sniffs, secretly smiling.

.

"Nobody else finding this creepy? Just me? Okay then." Eric says, gesturing to the couple.

.

"Would you prefer bailing him out of jail at 2am again for another drunk & disorderly?" Donna asks her love.

.

Eric thinks, deliberating the pros and cons.

.

"Eric!" his fiancee shouts.

.

Brooke walks over, slightly snippy. "Donna, did you just ask Jackie to be your maid of honor?"

.

"I did" she smiles.

.

"But Jackie is _my_ maid of honor" Brooke whines.

.

"I—I didn't know" she tells her, apologetically.

.

"She can't be both? Are you getting married on the same day as us or something?" Eric asks.

.

"No. I mean, I don't know when you're getting married, but our wedding is on Valentine's Day" she announces.

.

"Smart move, man" Eric nods to Kelso.

.

"Yeah, I know. I figured it would save me from getting in trouble for forgetting both Valentine's Day and my anniversary. This way if I forget either, then I'll probably forget both. The shitstorm will rain supreme on February 15th and then I am dunzo for the rest of the year." he smiles, chuffed with his own cleverness.

.

"Nice" Hyde says with admiration.

.

"I don't know if that's diabolically brilliant or just plain diabolical" Eric muses.

.

All three women roll their eyes hard.

.

"You're anticipating forgetting both your anniversary and Valentine's Day?" Donna asks with disgust.

.

Kelso backtracks. "No...I just...it gives me fewer chances to screw up. You know I'm not good at remembering stuff, babe." he forces a smile in Brooke's direction.

.

"You don't think I can find other reasons to kick up a shitstorm besides those, Michael Kelso? There are reasons. PLENTY of reasons!" she growls and runs off angrily.

.

"Seriously, Michael. You are still the king," Jackie shakes her head as she runs off after Brooke.

.

"Thanks for that, man" Hyde claps him on the shoulder. "Now she's gonna find some reason to be pissed off at me too," he says, following after the women who have recently fled.

.

"Why would Brooke be pissed off at you?" Kelso questions, rolling his eyes at Hyde's 'stupidity'. "Ooh. Do you think now would be a good time to tell her that I accidentally gave her diaphragm to the neighbor's dog as a chew toy? May as well get that over with too, you know, while she's still mad about this. Right?"

.

"Ladies and gentlemen: Long live the king!" Eric announces, slow-clapping his hands loudly.

.

"I'm going to go after them" Donna tells her man. "Pray for me." she whispers under her breath.

.

* * *

.

Brooke is crying in the kitchen while Jackie holds her.

.

"I knew he wasn't the brightest when I met him, but he was so sweet and that kind of made up for the rest" she says in-between sobs. "I thought he was excited about marrying me. He makes it sound like such a chore!"

.

Jackie holds her friend tightly. "Brooke, he is sweet, really he is. He may not have been the best boyfriend when we were kids, but he always made sure I knew how much he cared about me. Nobody knows how to make you feel more loved than Michael. Also, since he's not very smart, he's also not very good at lying, so you know that everything he says he feels is the truth."

.

"You're right" Brooke nods, her tears now slowing. "He is very transparent."

.

"It's very comforting to know exactly what he's thinking at all times, because it's all out there in the open and there are no nasty surprises. This is as sleazy as he gets!" her small friend smiles, trying to sound upbeat.

.

Brooke's lips begin to curl upwards slightly. "I guess so."

.

"Believe me, not many men are that open. Michael loves you so much. Anybody who looks at the two of you can tell he's head-over-heels for you, and he re _really_ wants to marry you. I should know, because I know what it looks like when he _really _doesn't want to marry somebody," she says bluntly.

.

The older girl's face softens upon hearing that revelation, and she places both hands on her friend's tiny shoulders. "One day you'll meet somebody who really wants to marry you too, Jackie. I mean, look at you! I'm surprised somebody hasn't locked you down already."

.

Donna places her hand on Jackie's back. "She's right. In fact, I'll bet by this time next year you're engaged."

.

The little one shakes out of her friend's embrace. "When did this become about me? I appreciate the pep talk ladies, but I'm okay being alone. I actually quite like being alone nowadays, if you want to know the truth. I can focus all of my energy on making myself better, and then there's that whole 'waiting for them to cheat on me' thing - it's nice to not have to worry about that." she admits.

.

Donna cocks an eyebrow. "Jackie, you can't be serious. You've always been so in love with the idea of being in love."

.

"Yeah" she sighs. "I've realized that for me, being in love is just that—an idea. Nothing more."

.

"What about Hyde?" the amazon wonders. "Aren't you guys back together?"

.

"We're just...he's...I don't know." she obfuscates, not having come to terms with their new status yet enough to discuss.

.

"Do you want to have pizza for dinner?" Brooke asks, trying to change the subject for her friend's benefit.

.

"We're totally snowed in. Even if a place were open Brooke, the delivery guys would never be able to get to us," Donna rationalizes.

.

"We could make pizza!" she counters excitedly.

.

Jackie stretches her arms up over her head and reaches for the sky. She can feel all of the muscles in her body elongate then relax. As much as she loves weddings, marriage has never quite held the same appeal for her. Her parents were married, and look how well that turned out. She had no idea what marriage was really about until she met the Formans—and even then, she wouldn't ever have known what she needed to do to achieve a union like that.

.

Quite frankly, if Michael actually had wanted to marry her, they would both have ended up miserable. Though he loved her in his own way, it was never the same as the feelings he has now for Brooke. He would never have changed for her the way he has for his new love. Nobody ever does.

.

Standing in the hallway, Hyde sinks back into the wall, wishing he could disappear. Michael Kelso made Jackie feel loved. A guy who cheated on her with dozens of girls knew how to make her feel more secure than a guy who never wanted to be with anybody but her. He absorbs this news like a kick to the gut.

.

Like Jackie, Hyde also had no idea what a normal relationship was supposed to look like until he started living with the Formans. With a loose, negligent mom and a booze-hound dad who ran off when he was a kid, the deck was pretty much stacked against him from the start in that regard. The one thing he has that his parents didn't though, is a keen desire not to live the way that they did.

.

He wants better for himself and he wants it with Jackie, that much he knows. To make that happen he's going to need a road map, and he's determined to get one from the only people he knows who can show him the way.

.

* * *

.

Hyde knocks on the door to Red's study and immediately chicken's out, turning to leave before he's noticed.

.

"Which one of you dumbasses is at my door? The hophead or Mr. Nude?" Red calls out.

.

Hyde freezes, turns around and clears his throat. "The um...hophead, sir."

.

"Come on in" the old man says.

.

He walks into the room and takes the seat across from Red, watching quietly for a moment as he restrings his new fishing rod.

.

"Why are you bothering me right now, son?" he asks

.

"I um..." Hyde falters.

.

"This is about the Loud One, isn't it?" he guesses.

.

The younger man is relieved his dad knows how to read him so well. Maybe this won't be as painful as he feared. "Yeah. We're back together," he says.

.

"I've got to hand it to you, for a lazy burn-out, you sure are some kind of miracle worker," he laughs. "I thought she'd have you wearing your ass as a hat by now, but you proved me wrong."

.

"Must've caught her on an off-day" he jokes.

.

"Did I see Steven come in here?" Kitty asks as she lets herself into the den.

.

"I'm sure you did Kitty, since you've been following him for the past 30 minutes" Red says, busting her.

.

"Following? What? Me? No! I am...a mother just knows when one of her children needs to talk" she explains.

.

"Especially when she's been eavesdropping outside the door" he teases, grinning.

.

Kitty gives her husband a stern look, then turns to Hyde. "Is something troubling you, Steven?"

.

"Well, I was wondering if maybe you could give me some advice about Jackie," he asks.

.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Kitty squeals, trying to hold in her excitement.

.

"Oh boy" Red sighs, turning his attention back to the fishing pole.

.

"Jackie agreed to give me another chance and I'm afraid I'm going to mess things up again, because you know...that's kind of my thing," he admits.

.

"Oh Steven, messing up is not your thing. You just never learned how to be in a relationship because you had a two-bit floozy for a mother and a dad who was a deadbeat drunk. You never had a good example to follow," she explains.

.

Hyde nods, understanding her theory.

.

"Steven, dealing with a women is like fishing. It may seem like a complicated process from the outside, but deep down all you really need is a simple string and the right bait. They just want to know that you love them and want to be with them more than anybody else. If you can get that point across, then they can forgive practically any mistake you make. And trust me, you'll make plenty," he warns.

.

"And how do I do that?" he asks.

.

"Do I have to spell everything out for you morons?" he asks, incredulously.

.

"Honey, you might want to start by actually telling Jackie how you feel about her," she suggests gingerly.

.

"I've already told her" he claims, defensively.

.

"More than once. And not when you're drunk or when you're trying to get something from her. Or when you're begging for forgiveness or-," she says.

.

"That doesn't leave him a lot of other time to fill, Kitty" Red interrupts.

.

"She just wants to know that you're thinking of her and putting her needs above your own," she tells him.

.

"Why would I do that?" Hyde wonders.

.

"Do you want to die alone?" Red asks him directly.

.

"Honey, you love her don't you? You want to make her happy, right?" Kitty questions.

.

He thinks for a minute. "Yeah, I do."

.

"Just listen to her. She's quite...loud. She'll tell you what she wants from you. You just need to really listen and then get off your keister and try your hardest to give it to her" she instructs.

.

"You're a second class citizen now, Steven. She comes first. Remember that and you'll have a smooth ride" Red says, imparting his wisdom.

.

Hyde stands and gives them both a thoughtful smile. "Thanks" he says and then turns to walk out of the room.

.

Red turns to Kitty and exhales deeply. "He's going to fuck this up again, isn't he?"

.

* * *

.

Hyde walks back in the kitchen and finds Jackie, Brooke and Donna making pizza dough. Jackie is completely covered in flour, courtesy of Donna and laughing musically.

.

Give her what she wants. Make her feel loved. Hyde thinks this sounds simple enough. Even Forman seems to have figured that much out and he's as smooth with the ladies as gravel.

.

Jackie notices him out of the corner of her amber eyes and smiles.

.

Spurred on by his recent education, Hyde marches over to Jackie, lifts her off of her feet and kisses her passionately in front of everybody.

.

"What's gotten into you?" she asks, now breathless from his kiss.

.

Hyde shrugs. "Just felt like coming over to tell you that I love you."

.

Jackie's breath hitches as she looks around her at her friends, who are both also awestruck at Hyde's uncharacteristic behavior.

.

Did he just say he loved her? In public?

.

"Ditto" she says with a smile as she leans in for another kiss.

.

**A/N – Well? How'd I do with this chapter? I know not much happens, but I really wanted to write a good Kitty/Red scene. Did you like it? Sound off in the reviews section and let me know!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Brace yourself-and don't get mad but there's a speedbump coming. I promise this will end happily! I also want to say THANK YOU to the many people who have left reviews. You guys are the best! I'm thrilled you're reading and very happy so many of you seem into it.**

**.**

**FYI- most of the chapter is rated T, but there's a tiny section that's slightly M-ish, - though it's not too long or involved and can easily be skipped.**

**.**

**CHAPTER 17**

.

Donna, Jackie and Brooke are all standing in front of a wall mirror in Jackie's apartment, having a final, last minute fitting. Donna is wearing a sexy green silk slip. Brooke is in a Grace Kelley style wedding dress with a princess crown and veil. Jackie wears a skin-tight magenta confection with a bustle. They pass a joint between themselves, having their own 'fancy' circle.

.

"We are a classy classy sight" Donna says, fingering Brooke's veil with her free hand as she grabs for the joint. "The fanciest circle in all the land!"

.

"If you bitches get any ash on these dresses I'm going to make you walk down the aisle naked" Jackie threatens very seriously.

.

"Michael would probably prefer that" Brooke laughs hysterically as she tokes very carefully to avoid dropping any ash. "Where did you get this stuff, Jackie? It's strong!"

.

"Steven dropped it off earlier" she answers, grabbing the joint from Brooke. "I told him we wanted to have a circle."

.

"Things seem to be going well with you two, which from past experience means we can probably expect World War III to break out shortly." Donna remarks.

.

Jackie coughs as she finishes the last of the roach. "Not that I don't appreciate the vote of confidence, Big Red, but not this time. At least, I don't think, but you never know with Steven. He's very mysterious," she blushes.

.

"Is he still not calling you his girlfriend?" Brooke asks delicately.

.

Jackie scowls at Donna. "According to him, we're 'hanging out'. He thinks that labeling a relationship subjugates both men and women, whatever the hell he means by that. Honestly though, I don't really care what he calls it. I'm having fun."

.

"Are you feeling okay?" her former-best friend checks. "This is an atypical Jackie-like response."

.

She laughs. "Yeah, well...whatever. I can't really complain, he's been on his best behavior. He calls me a lot, takes me out for dinner to restaurants that have tablecloths - which I know he hates - and he's just...I'm just happy. Plus, the work out he's been giving my lady parts has been- -"

.

"That'll be enough of that!" the blonde cringes.

.

"Give me the details later" Brooke whispers not-so-subtly.

.

Jackie winks at her friend. "I'm just trying to get used to the new Steven, assuming this is all for real and he wasn't, you know, hit on the head with a piano or something," she explains.

.

"I guess I'm just kind of worried for you." Donna admits. "I don't mean to be a buzzkill but what are you going to do if he goes back to being the same old jerk to you that he once was? He just seems too good to be true right now."

.

"Yeah. I'm not as stupid as you think I am, Donna. I know people don't really change, but I'm trying to live in the moment for once. she says, feeling suddenly very sad.

.

Brooke leans over and brushes her little friend's hair from her face. "I believe people can change." she says with pep. "Look at Michael. He's not the same guy he was a few years ago."

.

Jackie forces a smile and tries to seem positive, but deep down she feels the sharp tug of dread. If Steven has taught her anything, it's that when things seem to be going well you should brace yourself, because the other shoe is gonna drop- - hard, and probably right on her head.

.

"Forget about me—this night is about Brooke" she asserts perkily.

.

Brooke starts tearing up and puts an arm around each of them. "This has been the best bachelorette party ever!"

.

"Brooke, we didn't do anything besides smoke up, let Jackie give us facials and eat M&Ms" Donna laughs.

.

"Trust me Donna, when you have a toddler, that's like Paradise" she sighs.

.

Jackie folds her arms. "Well, this is unacceptable. We need to do something fun and wild for Brooke's last night as a single lady. I mean, the boys are off living it up at an Indian casino while we're sitting around getting fat and- "

.

"Wait. What?" Donna shoots her a confused look. "Who's going to an Indian casino?"

.

"Our guys" she responds, as if the lumberjack is a moron.

.

Brooke averts her eyes and starts busying herself by removing her veil.

.

Donna looks down and bites her thumb nail anxiously, unsure of what to say.

.

The feisty brunette puts her hands on her hips and takes a hard stance. "Just say it." she prompts calmly, bracing herself for an answer she both fears and in the back of her brain, kind of suspects.

.

Neither woman wants to speak up.

.

"Fine. I'll say it. They went to a strip club. Am I right?" she prods, trying to stay zen.

.

"We thought you knew" Donna says with empathy.

.

The bride tries to calm her friend down by rubbing her back. "I'm so sorry honey. I know this is a sore subject for you."

.

The midget shakes it off. "No. I'm fine. More than fine, actually. It's my best friend's wedding tomorrow and I intend to send her off with a bang. There are slut dresses on the garment rack in the corner and I expect you ladies will be ready for a night of drinking and dancing in 20 minutes."

.

Brooke and Donna look at each other nervously.

.

"What are you waiting for, bitches? You're not getting any younger!" she huffs as she unzips her maid of honor dress and lets it fall to the floor.

.

* * *

.

The boys are sitting in one of the front tables at a mid-level strip club in Kenosha. Fez and Kelso are half in the bag already, tossing singles generously at any woman in a half-way revealing outfit, regardless of their occupation.

.

Embarrassed though thoroughly amused by Fez's leering, Eric hangs back. "I don't really see the point of this. I mean, Kelso's probably already slept with half the staff here anyway."

.

"It's true! I totally have!" he screams as he does another shot with Fez.

.

"Also, I guess I just don't see the point of paying money to take their tops off when we can't even touch them or wank-off," he thinks.

.

"Forman, you've been spending way too much time with Donna" Hyde laughs, shaking his head. "There used to be a time when the sight of a naked woman didn't make you think so hard."

.

"The sight of a naked woman does more than make me _think_ hard, if you know what I mean" Fez laughs knowingly.

.

Kelso laughs along with him for a moment and then stops. "No, what do you mean?"

.

Fez leans over to confess "It also makes my penis hard."

.

"Oh right!" he laughs, finally getting it.

.

Hyde winces. "Keep that shit to yourself man, nobody needs to hear about your dong."

.

Just then, a tall blonde stripper in a tube top slides herself onto Hyde's lap. "Hey blue jeans" she flirts.

.

Kelso freaks. "Oh my God, is Sam back?" he asks as he stands up and points to his buddy. "BURN!" he screams.

.

Hyde looks at the dancer and swallows hard. She does look almost exactly like Sam, in as much as all blonde strippers of a certain age and build look the same. In his vast experience, he's found there isn't much variation where the blondes are concerned. That never seemed to bother him before, but he seems very bothered by it right now.

.

"Hey gentlemen. Sorry I'm late. I had to swap out a new part on my car" Casey Kelso drawls as he struts into the club, catching admiring looks from most of the women working there.

.

"Hey!" Kelso shouts excitedly as he leaps to hug his big brother. "I'm getting married, man! WOOO!"

.

Eric looks up at Casey from his seat and shrugs. "He's had a lot to drink."

.

"Well hello there, Foreplay" he mocks, while pulling up a chair. "Heard you were in Africa. Did you get to sample any of the local 'cuisine'?" he smirks in the sleaziest way possible.

.

"Sadly no" Eric condescends, not wanting to play ball with this asshole. "I'm engaged to Donna, remember?"

.

"Ah yeah. Pinciotti" he coos, drawing out her name as if he has a secret. "How is that hot little number? She still as foxy as when she was dating me or has she gone downhill?" Casey fake pouts.

.

"I'm happy to report, her juggs are still a-poppin'" Fez confirms.

.

"Thank you...Fez" Eric remarks, nonplussed.

.

"Lucky man, that Foreplay, but not as lucky as this guy!" he shouts, pointing to Hyde with two gun hands. "Every man's dream is to be married to a stripper, am I right guys?"

.

Everybody falls into an awkward silence.

.

"Yeah, this isn't Sam and it turns out we weren't really married after all. So...whatever." he says, trying to glaze over the topic.

.

"Then who's this fine piece sitting on your lap?" he asks with a wink. "Sure lookin' cozy."

.

"Feeling cozy" the stripper giggles then shifts back an forth with purpose on Hyde's lap as she starts playing with his curls.

.

He knocks her hand away from his 'fro and points to Kelso. "That guy is getting married tomorrow" he informs her as he pulls out his wallet and hands her $60. "Show him a good time."

.

"Thanks baby. Maybe you can go next?" she says.

.

"Not interested." he says gruffly.

.

She shrugs and kisses his cheek, then hops off his lap and slinks over to Kelso and Fez.

.

"Good thing Jackie wasn't here to see that, right?" Eric laughs uncomfortably.

.

"Yeah..." Hyde replies, deep in thought.

.

"You didn't tell her we were coming here did you?" he frowns, knowing this will not end well for his brother.

.

"I didn't want to worry her" he admits.

.

The skinny guy shakes his head in disgust. "You never learn, do you?"

.

"It'll be fine. Settle down, you big girl" he grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest.

.

"How long do you think you can keep this up?" Eric wonders. "This whole Jackie thing," he clarifies as he nurses his beer.

.

"Until one of us drops dead, hopefully" he answers plainly.

.

"Come on. You want to spend the rest of your life with that she-devil?" he balks.

.

"Don't make me hit you, Forman" Hyde growls.

.

"Well" Casey slaps his lap and stand up. "This was a blast, but I'm gonna head on across the street to see if I can't find a lady I'm actually allowed to touch" he announces, opening and closing his hands.

.

Kelso's face drops. "You're leaving already?" he whines.

.

"What do you need me for when you've got them?" he gestures to the stripper's now naked breasts, currently being shoved in his baby brother's face.

.

"He has a point" Fez nods in agreement. "Who needs Casey when you have boobies?"

.

* * *

.

Jackie, Brooke and Donna are at a VIP table doing lemon drop shots.

.

"And this one-is to Brooke having an orgasm every single time!" Jackie slurs, pounding her shot.

.

Brooke giggles. "I'll drink to that" she says as she guzzles.

.

"And this one-is to Michael remembering to bring Brooke two bunches of flowers each year for both Valentine's Day and her anniversary, even though they're on the same day," she squeals as she drinks up.

.

"Here here! I'll drink to that too!" Brooke shouts.

.

Donna starts to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and wonders if she can invent a way to get the girls home quickly and in one piece. Though she can see Brooke's having a great time, she's positive no good time is worth looking hung over in your wedding pictures. She may be a tomboy, but she's still a girl, and this much she knows.

.

"Hey, Brooke. We really should be getting you home" she suggests. "With the wedding tomorrow and all."

.

"I'm getting married tomorrow! WOOO!" Brooke hoots as Jackie refills her shot glass, sprinkles more sugar on her friend's wrist and searches through a pile of used lemon wedges to find two fresh ones.

.

"Jackie, don't you think you guys have had enough?" she worries.

.

Out of the corner of her eye, Donna spies Casey Kelso sauntering into the nightclub, and for the first time in years, she feels happy to see him. Catching his eye, she waves him over.

.

"Hey ladies" he says, giving them a self-satisfied smile. "Having a fun night?"

.

"The best, Casey!" Brooke shouts, right in Donna's ear.

.

Donna taps her eardrum to make sure it's still in tact. "They're having a little too much fun, I think" she assesses.

.

"Looking good, Pinciotti" he nods appreciatively. "You the designated driver tonight?"

.

She shrugs. "Unfortunately. I really think we need to get Brooke home now before we end up having to drag her down the aisle, half-conscious, wearing dark sunglasses. I've been trying for 20 minutes but they won't budge" she complains.

.

"Let me take care of this. I have a way with the ladies. " he suggests confidently.

.

"Hey Brooke. Donna here is going to take you home now, okay?" he asks.

.

She smiles at him with drunk eyes. "Okay Casey".

.

"Wow. Not sure how you managed that, but thanks" she smiles, helping Brooke up from the table.

.

"Anything for you, Pinciotti" he smiles in return. "And if you ever get bored playing with action figures, you know where I live."

.

"Not gonna happen, but thanks" she laughs as she grabs Brooke's handbag for her. "Get up, midget!"

.

"Wait! I'm not ready to go home yet" Jackie whines.

.

"Jackie Burkhart. Where have you been hiding, beautiful?" he questions smoothly.

.

"Just because I wasn't hanging out with the usual losers, doesn't mean I was hiding" she sniffs.

.

"Jackie! We're going home NOW_._ Come on!" Donna claps her hands a few times, getting impatient.

.

"I said I'm not leaving yet, you lumberjack!" she scowls.

.

Casey taps his chest and cocks his head to the side. "I got this one, Big-D. Why don't you take my sister-in-law home and I'll keep an eye on this little thing."

.

"That's what I'm afraid of" she tells him with a furrowed brow.

.

"Don't be ridiculous. She's like a baby sister to me!" he says, grimacing at what she's implying. "I'll be good. Scout's honor!" he swears, holding up his fingers

.

Donna's a little uneasy but has run out of options. "Okay...I guess. Just...don't try anything funny, Casey, or I'll have to kick your ass." she responds skeptically as she practically drags an inebriated Brooke out of the club.

.

Jackie turns to him and laughs. "You were never a scout".

.

He winks at her. "No, but I did beat a few of them up in high school".

.

She laughs. "You Kelso boys are as tough as you are pretty".

.

He leans forward and drinks Brooke's untouched shot. "The same can be said of the Burkhart ladies. Wanna dance?"

.

"Oh thank God! Steven never wants to dance" she complains as she runs around the table and grabs Casey's hand.

.

He pulls her close and she can feel herself getting dizzy. Maybe dancing wasn't the best idea. In fact, staying there with Casey is a pretty lousy idea too. Not that he isn't cute...or a pretty good dancer. Yeah, Jackie is now fairly certain that staying with Casey is a horrible idea.

.

"Steven who?" he casually questions. "Is he your boyfriend?"

.

"Hyde and nope" she says definitively. "We're just 'hanging out', according to him" she sighs, signaling her displeasure with their status.

.

"If you were my chick, I'd 'lock it down', if you know what I mean" he grins lasciviously.

.

"Wish he felt the same" she pouts. "Instead of 'locking it down', he's probably feeling up some whore in a strip club right now," she speculates bitterly.

.

His grin widens as he seizes upon a golden opportunity. "As a matter of fact...that's _exactly _what Hyde is doing right now. I just came from Michael's stag night across the street," he informs her gleefully.

.

Jackie's feels like she just received the news she's gained ten pounds and her head begins to throb. "What?" she asks fearfully.

.

"Oh yeah, he had some hot blonde number wiggling on his lap when I got there, and as I was leaving I saw him hand her a wad of cash. Guess 'hanging out' means he can still bang tall, blonde strippers" he shrugs innocently.

.

* * *

.

Donna emerges from the club practically carrying Brooke out with her. From across the street, she can see Eric opening the door to the Vista Cruiser.

.

"Eric!" she screams, loud enough for him to hear.

.

He looks up and smiles.

.

"A little help here?" she begs as she waves him over.

.

Eric runs to her aid. "What are you doing here? I thought you guys were staying in?"

.

"Me too, but Jackie wanted to show Brooke a good time" she explains and she shifts some of Brooke's weight onto her boyfriend. "Of course, this suggestion came right after she discovered that instead of going to an Indian Casino, as Hyde had told her, you were going to a strip club."

.

"Great. I'm really looking forward to hearing how this all turns out. Now, if you'll just excuse me..." he pretends like he's leaving, sending Donna into hysterical laughter.

.

"Eric! We have to be here for Jackie! What if she needs us? What if Hyde needs somebody to bandage his shins?" she challenges him.

.

Eric sighs.

.

* * *

.

Jackie face crumples up as she flashes back to Sam draping herself all over Steven for those many torturous months last year. He told her he loved her and then he married a whore. There's just no way her psyche can handle something like that again. She realizes now that she'd be smarter to head this thing off at the pass.

.

"Wanna get out of here?" she asks pointedly, shocking Casey with her brazenness.

.

He grins smugly. "Little Jackie Burkhart, you wildcat" he says, shaking his finger at her. "_Hell yeah,_ I want to get out of here."

.

He grabs her hand and leads her to the front door before she changes her mind, amazed at how perfectly she played into his hands. His idiot brother may have plowed Little Miss J when she was a girl, but she's all woman now and he can't wait to rub it in Mikey's stupid face that he got to have her after her tits finally came in.

.

Jackie's heart begins to beat in her ears and she can feel her grip on the situation slowly falling away. This is wrong. She knows in her gut it's wrong, but she can't seem to stop it. She curses herself for being an idiot and for being so self-destructive. She hates having no control, but she can feel herself circling the drain, and if it comes down to Steven or her, she'd much rather be the one to put the bullet in her own brain.

.

Just before they reach the door, Casey backs her up into a wall in a dark corner and presses his erection against her, which causes her to gasp. "I've been thinking about doing this for years, Burkhart" he whispers almost menacingly in her ear, causing her to shiver from the soft vibration of his warm breath hitting her neck. "I'm really looking forward to it."

.

"Good," she says, trying to steady herself on her wobbly knees. "I like a man who's grateful".

.

Casey laughs. "Oh don't you worry, beautiful, I'm going to show you just how grateful I can be."

.

He leans forward and kisses her, slowly, sensually, dipping his tongue in and around her mouth, across her lips, teasing her gently. He's had a lot of practice and it shows.

.

Jackie's head feels even foggier than before now. She moans softly as his hands move down the front of her body, tweaking her nipples through her satin slip dress, making them stand to attention under his expert touch.

.

This is insane. She has no idea what the fuck she's doing, but Steven's across the street doing the same thing to her and she refuses to be the victim this time. If she's going to get hurt, she'll make sure it cuts him just as deeply.

.

"You feel so good, baby" he breathes into her neck as he nibbles away behind her ear, dragging his tongue down to the crook of her neck and sucking on her there.

.

"Casey..." she pants as he covertly slips his hand under her dress.

.

"I want to feel how wet you are for me" he groans into her neck as he slides the crotch of her panties aside and dips a finger into her hot core. "Damn, Jackie" he says in true Kelso fashion. "I don't know if I can wait to take you all the way home."

.

He plunges his finger into her harder and she gasps. Her heart is screaming now for her to stop, but her head is making her push on.

.

"Then don't" she groans, teetering on the knife's edge of pleasure and pain. Her soul is withering as she stands there, but his fingers are making her feel so good that she finds herself climbing the edge of pleasure despite herself.

.

Just as she's about to reach her peak, she has a moment of clarity. Even if Steven's the kind of person who is capable of cheating, she's not. It's not within her.

.

"No" she says softly. "No. I can''t—I can't do this" she cries as she pushes him off of her, gently at first, denying herself the impending release. "I'm so sorry Casey. I'm so sorry." she pushes harder and escapes his grasp.

.

She starts to walk quickly towards the front door but he grabs her arm. "Come on, Jackie. We were just getting started."

.

She shakes his hand free. "I just can't. I'm sorry," she says crying as she walks through the front door into the parking lot.

.

"Why?" he whines.

.

"I'm doing this for the wrong reasons" she admits as she continues outside.

.

* * *

.

"Jackie" Casey calls out "I don't care what your reasons are, baby" as he stands before her, practically begging.

.

"Casey! Go home!" she screams, getting irritated with his constant pestering.

.

From across the street, Donna and Eric can hear them arguing. Donna looks over at Eric with alarm and silently runs across the street to help Jackie.

.

Just as Donna leaves, Hyde emerges from the strip club. "Sorry man, it took forever to get my coat. I think that's how they trap you there" he laughs.

.

Eric turns towards his friend with a tense expression.

.

Hyde looks confused. "What's wrong?" he asks just before hearing a familiar voice yelling from the other side of the street.

.

"Go away Casey!" she screams at him drunkenly as he grabs her by the shoulders.

.

"You're nothing but a tease, Burkhart! No wonder my brother ran around on you." he taunts.

.

"That's enough." Donna tells him firmly and pushes him off of her friend roughly.

.

"Stay out of it, Pinciotti!" he growls.

.

"I don't think I can do that, Casey" she warns in a low voice.

.

"Why don't you go take a cold shower and leave me alone, you sleazebag." Jackie yells loudly.

.

Hyde takes off to the opposite parking lot and positions himself in front of Jackie. "What's going on here?"

.

"Your little girlfriend is nothing but a cock tease" he hisses.

.

Hyde nervously shoots Jackie a look and then turns back to Casey with his chest puffed out and clenches his jaw. "Your brother is getting married tomorrow, so I'm going to give you one chance to walk away, and if you don't, I will bash your fucking head in. They'll be pushing you down the aisle in a wheelchair" he threatens coolly, both fists balled tightly and ready for action.

.

Casey laughs. "Whatever man. That bitch isn't worth it anyway!" he says maliciously.

.

Jackie walks around Hyde and kicks Casey hard in the right shin. He grabs his leg and winces in pain, then looks at her in complete shock. Not satisfied, she kicks him again in the left shin this time. "I'm the only one allowed to call me a bitch, got it?" she snaps as she turns to walk away.

.

Hyde watches as Casey skulks back towards his car and turns to check on Jackie, only to find that she's already halfway down the block with Donna trailing behind.

.

"Jackie!" he calls out, trying to get her to slow down.

.

She doesn't respond, so he tries again. "Hey!" he screams as he jogs over to her and cuts off her path.

.

"Get out of my way, Steven" she demands coldly, hands crossed over her chest.

.

"Jackie, what's wrong?" he asks. "What happened over there?"

.

She laughs. "What's wrong? Really? What do _you_ think is wrong?" she roars.

.

He steadies her by putting his hands on her shoulders. "Talk to me" he demands gently, dipping his head low to try to meet her gaze.

.

"Did you win anything at the Indian casino tonight, Hyde?" she asks, narrowing her eyes.

.

His face falls. "Oh".

.

"Yeah. Oh" she whispers to herself. "Heard you had a good time though. I know how much you just _love_ blonde strippers" she hisses, practically choking on the word stripper. "Bet she showed you a good time, just like S-Sam used to."

.

He flinches at the mention of his sort of ex-wife's name.

.

"It's not what you think" he starts to frantically explain.

.

"Oh don't worry Puddin' Pop, Casey told me all about it." she says with an acridity he's not used to from her.

.

His body stiffens. "Did he now?"

.

"He said she was on your lap and all over you. He said you gave her a wad of cash" she continues.

.

"It was for her to dance for Kelso" he explains.

.

She runs her hands through hair. "You know, even if I believed you—which I don't-you still lied to me about coming here tonight. You're always going to be untrustworthy and I just can't live like this anymore."

.

"What are you saying" he asks, his voice wavering.

.

She places her hand over her mouth and holds back a sob. "We tried, okay? We tried and I'm glad we did, because now I know for sure that we never would have worked."

.

Hyde closes his eyes and prays that this is all a horrible dream. He's worked so hard to get her back, he wants this so much, and with one stupid mistake he managed to fuck it all up over the course of a few hours. "Jackie, we_ do_ work. The last two months have been the best of my life." he pleads, reaching out for her.

.

She shakes her head. "Don't touch me. It always complicates things when you touch me."

.

"I'm sorry doll. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you the truth and if I could go back and do it again I wouldn't lie to you, but I was only trying to protect you." he ardently tries to make her understand. "Please don't leave me." he begs quietly. "I love you."

.

"I know I'll never love anybody like I love you, but you're just not good for me. You told me once that if I felt bad about myself around you that you would rather leave me alone," she recalls. "Well, I'm feeling pretty crappy about myself right now Steven," her voice catches in a sob, despite her best efforts to keep it together.

.

Unable to stand her weeping and deathly afraid he's lost her, Hyde grabs Jackie and holds her tightly to his chest, almost willing her to stay with him. "I'm so sorry baby, I'm sorry." he whispers into her hair, over and over again like a mantra. "I can't give up. I know I said I would, but I won't. I can't, okay?"

.

She pulls back from him and wipes her tear-stained eyes. "I almost fucked Casey Kelso in that nightclub. I wanted to get back at you because hearing about you with that stripper made me feel lower than shit. I felt like nothing."

.

Hyde is stricken. "Jackie, I-"

.

She waves him away. "The reason I'm leaving isn't because of the stripper, Steven, it's because what you did tonight drove me to debase myself. I let Casey Kelso put his fingers all over me in a public nightclub for revenge. You've turned me into a whore, and I can't forgive you for that, no matter how much I want to." She turns and walks away towards Donna, who is waiting for her halfway down the block.

.

"Jackie!" he brays, like a wounded animal.

.

The lumberjack embraces her midget friend with care, giving freely her the support and love she once withheld.

.

Donna glances up at Hyde with sad, disapproving eyes, and guides Jackie down the street towards her car.

.

**A/N - DRAMA! Okay, I know I know, you wanted to see them cute and happy-and I promise you will, but it wouldn't be as interesting without a few bumps, right? Let me know what you think by PLEASE reviewing this chapter! I'm dying to hear from everybody!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Want to give a special shout out to my regular reviewers-I would not be writing and updating so quickly if it weren't for your amazing support, so THANK YOU! to DFT, wprincessannw, schottzie, prettyinpink33, msstock87, kayjay, tangerine1204, nannygirl, cecrecy and Mrs. Kauhn!**

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**If I forgot anybody, I'm sorry! Thanks again!**

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**CHAPTER 18**

.

Brooke is standing in front of a floor length mirror in a private suite at the church. She's wearing dark sunglasses and having trouble standing without the aid of a wall.

.

Jackie is on the floor with several pins clenches between her teeth, arranging last minute tweaks on Brooke's dress. She stands up and organizes the veil.

.

"You look beautiful" Jackie sighs, feeling emotional. "Michael is going to flip when he sees you. In fact, he's probably going to take one look at you and drag you off to the bathroom for a Molly Hatchet redo" she laughs.

.

"Shh. Too loud" Brooke whispers, her head throbbing loudly.

.

"Oh boy. You're going to have loose the sunglasses soon, so just try really hard to pull yourself together, if you can," she frets. "Nobody wants to see you barf on your groom."

.

"Jackie, what happened last night?" the bride turns to ask.

.

"Well, you drank entirely way too much..." Jackie starts.

.

"I mean with Hyde. And you." Brooke specifies.

.

Jackie busies herself with the bustle of the wedding dress. "Nothing" she says casually.

.

"You haven't spoken to him all morning, and he keeps looking at you with these sad, puppy dog eyes" she observes.

.

Jackie turns around to face Brooke. "Steven and I are totally fine. Today is_ your _day. Michael looks extra handsome in his suit and he's really nervous, in a cute way."

.

"He is?" she wonders shyly.

.

"Yeah. Excited nervous, not 'run from the church screaming' nervous. Just to clarify." she grins.

.

"I can't believe I'm finally getting married after everything we've been through. It feels so surreal" she muses.

.

Jackie fixes the curls at the bottom of the bride's hair. "Nah. You guys are the realest couple I know, and I couldn't be happier for you" she leans over and kisses her on the cheek. "I'd hug you, but I don't want to crumple the dress."

.

Brooke smiles and takes a deep breath as her maid of honor pulls the sunglasses from her face. "Okay. I'm ready".

.

* * *

.

The wedding procession has begun and all of the groomsmen have already made their way down to Pastor Dave.

.

Jackie quickly straightens out Brooke's train and takes her position, taking a second to re-secure the hot pink daisy she is wearing behind her ear. She leans over and gently coaxes Betsy to walk down the aisle. The little girl makes it halfway down the aisle and then turns her flower basket over, dumping all of the rose petals into a heap, much to the amusement of the guests.

.

Jackie stifles a giggle and quickly runs out to fetch Betsy. She grabs a handful of rose petals, helps her Goddaughter grab some too and then at the count of three they throw them up into the air, littering the white aisle with a splash of color.

.

She them aims Betsy at Kelso and gives her a little push on the bottom in that direction after telling her to go to her daddy. Jackie picks her bouquet up off of the floor, straightens out her dress and walks the rest of the length down the aisle as if it never happened.

.

Hyde hasn't taken his eyes off of her the entire time and she can feel his gaze boring a hole into her, which she finds unnerving and comforting at the same time.

.

As he watches her come towards him, he's brought back to the Valentine's Day dance when she also wore a flower behind her ear. She pressed into him so closely that night he almost forgot they were dancing. She wore little white ones in her hair at prom too. He found a few of them in his coat pocket the following day and it brought a smile to his face, despite the fact Edna screamed at him for coming home too late. He's surprised to find he remembers details from almost all of their significant moments together.

.

The guests all stand and Brooke is escorted down the aisle by her father. Kelso is rapt as he sees his bride approach, and Jackie can't help but be touched by the love Michael feels for his fiancee.

.

The ceremony isn't long, but the bride and groom recite their own vows, and Pastor Dave talks about finding your own path, and how even though Brooke and Michael did things out of order, they ended up together in the right spot.

.

As he holds Brooke and Kelso's rings in his hand, he can't help but wonder what it might feel like to do this with Jackie. He'd always been so averse to marriage for all of the obvious reasons, that he didn't stop to think about the good things marriage provides.

.

When the ceremony is over and they are officially wed, Hyde notices a look on Kelso's face unlike anything he's seen his goofy friend flash before: Peace.

.

As the procession back down the aisle begins, Jackie is forced to give Hyde her hand, which he loops under his arm and holds tightly against his body. Contact with Steven always makes Jackie lightheaded, and this is no different. The aisle feels a mile long and each step is sweet torture. When they reach the end, she tries to break apart, but he pulls her in the opposite direction instead.

.

"Steven, we really need to get back to the party" she tells him curtly.

.

"Yeah, I know that, but you weren't taking my calls and we don't have another wedding to go to until May, so I'm not taking my chances," he says as he pulls her into a pew.

.

"You look really beautiful" he says, looking longingly at her with tired eyes. She feels a pang of satisfaction knowing he didn't get much sleep either.

.

"I know." Jackie stares at her shoes which barely touch the ground, and steels herself for his speech.

.

A few minutes pass as they sit next to each other in complete silence. He pulls the glasses off of his face and puts them in his pocket, but he can't bring himself to talk.

.

"Well, as enlightening as this has been, I really do need to be getting back" she announces as she hops to her feet.

.

He grabs her hand. "What happened with Casey?"

.

"Figures that would be the first thing you care about" she says, rolling her eyes.

.

"This isn't easy for me Jackie" he asserts angrily.

.

"Really? Because I absolutely live for these little talks" she huffs.

.

"I'm trying, okay?" he sighs, refusing to let go of her hand.

.

She sits down next to him again and breathes deeply before answering. "I was angry that you lied to me about where you were going, so I suggested to the girls that we go out and get hammered at a dance club and he was there, and he said he'd seen you with a stripper on you lap and then we...we fooled around. That's basically what happened."

.

Hyde is sick at the thought of Casey's grimy hands all over his girl, but is smart enough to put the focus back on himself this time. "I'm sorry I lied" he says, sounding contrite. "It was Kelso's party, so I couldn't _not_ go, but I knew you'd be worried if I did."

.

"You promised me you'd never lie to me" she charges.

.

He nods. "I know, but it wasn't because I planned on doing anything with anybody".

.

"That just was just a spur of the moment decision, I guess" she sniffs.

.

"I didn't do anything with her!" he assures her.

.

"Was she in your lap?" she asks.

.

He nods regretfully.

.

"Was she grinding into you, playing with your hair, rubbing her fake tits in your face?" she challenges.

.

"Not the tits part" he confesses, "But the other stuff, yeah".

.

She works hard to hold back her anger. "You still think you didn't do anything with her?" Jackie fans her face in an attempt to dry the tears now welling in her eyes.

.

"Jackie, she was just coming onto me...for money, so I gave her some and sent her over to Kelso" he promises. "I wasn't fooling around with her. It's was really no big deal."

.

"What if I were doing to another guy what she was doing to you? Would it still be no big deal?" she questions.

.

"I'd rip the guys throat out" he confesses honestly.

.

"Then you are not going to like what happened with Casey" she warns.

.

His whole body clenches at the idea of another man touching his doll face. He feels ownership of her body, her seductive sighs and soft moans. He wants all of her pleasure to belong to him. She's his, and he doesn't want to think of her in any other way. He doesn't need that twisted image burned into his brain.

.

"You know what?" Hyde decides, "I don't want to know".

.

She looks at him skeptically. "What?"

.

"Do you love me?" he asks.

.

"You know I do" Jackie answers quickly.

.

"Do you still want to be with me?" he questions.

.

She pauses for a moment, "Depends. I'm not sure".

.

"Well I'm very sure I want to be with you but if you tell me all of the gory details from last night I don't think I can deal with it," he admits, trying to place his love before his pride for once.

.

Jackie starts to say something.

.

He holds his hand up. "And before you pipe in, yeah, I know I'm a hypocrite, but I can't help it" he finishes.

.

She takes his hand. "I didn't sleep with him. Not even close."

.

He nods, unable to look at her. "How about we just forgive each other and never mention last night ever again?"

.

She smiles, "I'd like that".

.

"I'm still kicking his ass though" he admits with a cheeky smile.

.

He turns to face her and softly rubs his thumb along her jawline. "I promise I won't lie to you again, okay doll? I'm not perfect, but I'm trying here".

.

She grabs his face and kisses him soundly.

.

He smiles. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

.

She leans in and whispers in his ear "Coat closet. Now."

.

He raises an eyebrow at her.

.

"You speak English, right?" she snaps.

.

He grabs her hand and pulls her towards the nearest closet.

.

* * *

.

"We're taking pictures now. Where are Jackie and Hyde?" Brooke asks, turning around to find them.

.

Donna looks up at Eric who smirks. "What do you think? 'Crash and Burn' or 'Drunken Rabbit'?"

.

"She does get very turned on by formal wear" the statuesque beauty notes.

.

"You always pick rabbit" he shakes his head.

.

"Can I help it if I'm just a romantic at heart?" she says, batting her lashes at him.

.

He leans sideways towards his fiancee and adopts a sexy voice "How romantic?"

.

She grabs his hand and pulls him towards the nearest coat closet, but it's locked. "Keep going, there's bound to be a broom closet somewhere" she whispers.

.

* * *

.

Jackie's dress is on the floor of the coat closet, along with Hyde's pants and jacket. Their limbs are intertwined and he is pressing her up against the wall.

.

"I missed you last night." she says as she snakes her fingers through the back of his hair.

.

"Of course you did" he laughs.

.

"Steven" she pouts.

.

He smiles and looks lovingly into her eyes. "Fine. I missed you too, okay?"

.

She kisses him deeply, then pulls off his tie - letting it fall to the floor - and works her way over to his neck. "If I miss you this much after just 12 hours, I don't even want to think about how hard it's going to be when I go off to school" she frowns, before resuming her task.

.

Hyde's face falls and his mouth runs dry, causing him to cough. "I forgot about that".

.

"You did?" she asks while making her way down his chest. "I think about it every day" she remarks while getting on her knees. She's going to show him how much he means to her - to replace any thoughts of Casey with thoughts of this.

.

He looks down and cups her face in his hands. He wants desperately to say something, but isn't sure how to express what he's feeling.

.

Before he can form a sentence, she takes him into her mouth and all thoughts of her leaving disintegrate into the ether.

.

* * *

.

A frustrated Donna and Eric wander back over to the bridal party.

.

"It has to be them" Eric grumps, looking at the locked coat closet. "They must have, like, sex radar for finding the nearest empty room. We have no closet mojo. I feel like Superman after he lost all of his powers" he whines.

.

Donna rolls her eyes. "Not sure I'd go that far, but yeah, we have pretty bad luck in the public sex arena" she concedes.

.

"I'll bet Superman and Lois Lane never got walked in on by everybody they know while doing it on a kitchen table" he pouts.

.

"Don't worry honey, we'll find our own 'Fortress of Solitude' this evening" she says while trying hard not to use a mocking tone. If she's going to get laid tonight, she realizes it helps to speak to her man in his own language.

.

He puts his hand over his chest. "You still get me" he smiles and kisses her.

.

* * *

.

Jackie stands up and wipes her mouth off. "Come on" she says as she picks up her dress.

.

"What about you?" he wonders, reaching for her fruitlessly.

.

"We have to take pictures and Brooke's probably waiting for us. You can show me how grateful you are to have all this back in your life later tonight" she smirks, gesturing to her body.

.

He leans her up against the wall again. "How about I give you a little taste?" he asks while running his hand up her inner thigh.

.

Flashing back to the events of the prior night, Jackie pulls his hand away before he makes it past the underwear barrier. "No time, Puddin'. We have to go look pretty for Brooke and Michael" she says as she tries to do up his bow tie for him.

.

He starts kissing her neck. "I don't wanna".

.

She pulls away. "Come on. If this were our wedding we'd be super pissed if our friends were making love in the coat closet instead of posing for pictures. Well, I would at least."

.

Suddenly, it hits her what she just said and her eyes look frightened. "I didn't mean-"

.

He kisses her softly on the lips. "It's okay. I don't want you to be afraid to say shit in front of me anymore, okay? I'm not going anywhere."

.

Her eyes dance with affection for him. "Yay! We're getting married!" she cheers.

.

He turns white. "What?"

.

"Gotcha!" she laughs pointing at him with both index fingers.

.

He smirks. "You're going to pay for that later".

.

"I look forward to it, Mr. Hyde. You can zip me up now." she says as she turns around.

.

* * *

.

The whole gang is sitting at a table, having just finished eating dinner.

.

"Did you write a speech?" Jackie asks.

.

"You know I did" he responds.

.

"Is it any good?" she wonders.

.

"No Jackie, I made sure to make it horrible" he grumbles.

.

"Are you going to-?" she starts to ask another question but is cut off by him kissing her.

.

"What was that for" she asks.

.

"It was to stop me from saying something mean." he says, frankly.

.

She pouts. "I'm not that annoying" she says. "All I was asking was-"

.

He cuts her off again with another kiss. "I'm about to have you gagged if you don't stop." he warns her. "Otherwise my lips are gonna fall off from having to constantly shut you up."

.

A light goes off in her head. "Aww, you're nervous about the speech, aren't you?" she suggests sweetly as his lips descend on hers once again to keep her quiet.

.

Hyde is called up to the microphone to give his speech. He pulls out a crumpled up piece of paper from his jacket pocket and removes his sunglasses.

.

"So, um, as many of you know, giving speeches isn't really my bag" he starts. "But I've known Kelso since before his voice dropped, so I'm making an exception this time." he says as the guests laugh.

.

"As anybody who knows me will tell you, I'm kind of skeptical about marriage and the whole happily ever after thing. My parents weren't exactly a shining example of wedded bliss. So when Kelso told me he was getting married, my first thought was 'poor guy'," he smirks as Kelso gives him a head nod.

.

"But seeing how happy Brooke makes him, and how peaceful they both looked after the ceremony, I may be rethinking my whole position on this thing".

.

Jackie's mouth drops open and she covers it quickly with her hands.

.

Eric glances at Donna who grabs his arm.

.

"You and Brooke make me think that maybe this whole marriage deal isn't so bad after all. Kelso, you are a lucky bastard. Do not screw this up!" he shouts.

.

"I won't!" Kelso yells back.

.

"Brooke, you can probably do a lot better, but you can definitely do a lot worse" he laughs, triggering some chuckles in the crowd. "To Michael and Brooke Kelso!" he says, raising his glass.

.

"To Michael and Brooke!" the guests scream in unison as they drink their champagne.

.

Hyde returns to the table feeling energized, a huge weight finally lifted off of his shoulders.

.

Jackie gazes up at him knowingly.

.

"Let me just stop you right there" he says, raising his hand.

.

"I didn't say anything!" she yells, exasperated.

.

He leans over to kiss her and whispers in her ear "You can do a lot better too, but I sure am glad you settled."

.

Her face softens. "You don't really think I'm settling, do you?"

.

He shrugs and takes a gulp of champagne.

.

She slips her arm around his waist and pulls herself into him. "It's not settling when I never wanted anything else, Steven".

.

Overcome by the sentiment, he kisses her forehead and finds an excuse to take a walk. "I'm gonna get another drink. You want something?"

.

She hold up her empty champagne glass and he takes it from her.

.

Across the room, a dashing figure in a black tux approaches the table.

.

"Looking good, Burkhart" Casey drawls in a taunting tone, clearly inebriated.

.

She looks down. "What do you want Casey?" she asks flatly.

.

"I thought we might finish what we started last night" he quietly murmurs in her direction.

.

"I'm here with Steven" she says firmly, refusing to make eye contact with him.

.

"Hey, that didn't seem to make much of a different last night when I was knuckle deep between your legs" he laughs while invading her personal space.

.

From the bar, Hyde notices Casey chatting Jackie up and heads over with tight fists.

.

Noticing him arrive, a broad smirk spreads across the older man's face. "Hey Hyde, we were just talking about you" he says, pretending to be happy to see him.

.

"Outside. Now." he orders, his eyes sparking with rage.

.

"What's your problem, man? Jackie and I were just talking about old times. Like last night, when I shoved my hand up her—" before Casey can finish the sentence, Hyde knocks him out.

.

Jackie buries her face in her hands and runs out of the building completely embarrassed.

.

Hyde turns to Kelso and Brooke apologetically. "I'm sorry man, he was bothering Jackie".

.

Kelso laughs. "It's not a wedding until somebody gets punched out!"

.

Brooke looks less thrilled but understanding. "She ran outside".

.

He nods and runs out of the building after his girl.

.

* * *

.

Jackie is sitting on a bench all alone, practically meditating.

.

Hyde sits down next to her and takes her hand. He expected to find her out here crying, but she seems almost...serene.

.

"Are you mad at me?" she asks him.

.

He exhales, bemused. "I was just about to ask you the same thing."

.

She turns to him, shivering from the night air. "Why would I be mad at you? You were just defending my honor. I'm the whore who brought this on us in the first place."

.

He takes off his jacket and wraps it around her shoulders. "You're not a whore, and I thought we agreed not to mention last night again."

.

She smiles and softly kisses his lips. "How could you possibly think I'm settling by being with you. Look how cute you are," she says, stroking his face.

.

"I'm not cute, I'm rugged" he corrects.

.

"And so brave too" she purrs "as well as good with your hands".

.

He shrugs. "I'm agile".

.

She scoots forward until she is straddling his lap, then folds her legs around his waist and brings him in for a big kiss. "I don't want you touching anybody else with these agile hands" she informs him as she brings his punching hand to her lips and kisses his raw knuckles. "Only me. They're mine now." she declares.

.

He smiles in that goofy way he always used to make fun of other people for and holds her face. "You got it, doll. All yours".

.

"Does that mean...?" she asks hopefully.

.

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah. I guess I'm your boyfriend." he says nonchalantly.

.

"Oh, well, I guess that as your girlfriend, I have certain privileges, right?" she whispers softly into his neck.

.

"I think we've pretty much established you're running this thing now, Jackie" he winks at her.

.

She smiles and melts into his arms.

.

**A/N- Happy now? Can you see where this is headed? Just a little hint for you, the story will wrap up when it's time for Jackie to leave for Chicago again. Not much longer now. Hopefully history will not repeat itself twice...YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO - PLEASE REVIEW! Oh, and if you're enjoying this story, please click "favorite" so more people will be tempted to read it ; )**


	19. Chapter 19

**So my goal is to keep this story at 20 chapters with an epilogue, so we're almost there. I know the story started frothy and sexy and then turned dramatic, but I wanted to show how they've both grown and matured enough to be together again. The story will end frothy and sexy though, so stay tuned : )**

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**FYI - this chapter is Rated M for smut (yay?). You're safe reading until they are asleep in bed together, which is the last scene.**

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**CHAPTER 19**

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Hyde is cooking breakfast in the kitchen while Donna and Jackie look through the university of Chicago course guide on the couch.

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Holding a phone book-sized course guide, Donna randomly flips through the pages and offers suggestions. "The Tao of Woody Allen?"

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"No" Her verdict is swift.

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Flip. "West African Folklore?"

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"Ugh, pass" she dismisses with a wave of the hand.

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Flip. Flip. "Modern Physics?"

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"God no!" she gasps.

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Flip. "The Birds and the Bees?"

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Her grimace subsides. "Sounds promising..."

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"It's just a misleading way of selling Ornithology 101" Donna shrugs apologetically.

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"Ew. Then no. Birds creep me out" she shivers.

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Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. "Intro to Cahokian Land Mounds?"

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Jackie smirks. "Now you're just making shit up, Donna."

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"I swear to God it's in here" her friend laughs, pointing to the entry.

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"Are you guys out there doing MadLibs?" Hyde walks into the living room, moves a chess piece on the board and then goes straight back into the kitchen.

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Jackie furrows her brow. "No no no you can't do that. There's a time limit buddy!"

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He pops his head into the living room. "We're playing street chess, doll. Anything goes" he says, a smug grin washing over his face.

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"What's street chess?" Donna asks.

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"It's a form of chess that he made up to give himself extra time to think of ways to beat me, which he can't, because I am so much better at it than he is," Jackie gloats.

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"Well, it's better than strip chess, which was your dumbest idea ever!" he shouts from the kitchen.

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She leans over to confide in Donna "I thought it would be sexy, but it took like three hours to get naked and by the time we were done getting undressed, we just ended up rolling over and going to sleep."

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Hyde screams from the kitchen "Are you eating, Big D?"

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"I can't-I have to get back for a cake tasting, then Eric and I have tickets to a Packers game. I know, I'm a rock star and you're jealous" she preens, rubbing it in.

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"Get bent!" he yells back.

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Donna looks around the apartment and notices Hyde's jacket on one of Jackie's dress forms and several pairs of his shoes on the shoe rack by the front door. "Hey Jackie, tell me something. Are you and Hyde living together?"

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"What? No, of course not!" she responds, taken aback.

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Donna narrows her eyes and turns sideways to look at her friend directly. "He has a key though, right?"

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"Just so he can let himself in when I'm not home." she explains.

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"And he keeps his stuff here?" she asks.

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"A little. I gave him a few drawers, about a third of my closet and his own shelf in the bathroom." she reports. "What? He needs to have a change of clothes, Donna. I don't get get turned on by vagrants." she crinkles her nose at the thought.

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A broad smile creeps across the blonde's face "When's the last time he slept in his own bed?"

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Jackie thinks long and hard until look of realization overtakes her striking features. "Oh my God, we _are _living together!" she shrieks with eyes wide.

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"Aww, you loooove him." Donna laughs, making kissing sounds.

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Jackie stands up and calls to the kitchen "Baby!".

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"Yeah?" he answers.

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"The giant just pointed out something interesting to me. Apparently, you and I are living together!" she exclaims.

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He pops his head into the room with a bemused expression "That's not what you thought we were doing here?" he motions between the two of them quizzically.

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"No. No, I was unaware that this was happening, actually." she answers honestly.

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Hyde wipes his hands on his apron and kneels down to Jackie's level."Well, do you want to? Live together?" he asks, brandishing his most charming grin.

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Jackie taps her finger on her chin and pretends to be unsure "What would it be like?"

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"Pretty much exactly this, but I'd be paying for half the rent." he says, comically underselling it.

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She thinks for a minute then smiles. "Sold!" She kisses him wildly, much to her friend's chagrin.

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"You guys are nauseating." Donna gags.

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He smirks. "I'll just 'move my stuff in' then?" he says, using air quotes.

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"Well, how does it feel to be officially living with him?" Donna asks.

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"Much like it did before, just with a little more self-awareness." she jokes at her own expense.

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"Guess this makes your whole college move more complicated, eh?" she wonders. "You think he'll keep this place when you leave?"

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"I, um, I don't know. We just moved in together 30 seconds ago." she stammers.

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Donna gives her a knowing look. "I think you're in denial".

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"Shut up, will you?" Jackie yells. "Why do you always have to go pointing stuff out?"

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She leans in and lowers her voice for privacy. "Jackie, seriously, you're leaving in two months for school. What are you going to do about Hyde?" she motions towards the kitchen.

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"I haven't thought that far ahead." Jackie says, brushing off her question.

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"It's not_ that_ far ahead" she mumbles.

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"Donna, I'll be fine. I'm not planning on breaking up with him just because I go off to college." she insists, more for her own benefit than for Donna's.

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"You're going to do a long distance relationship? With HYDE?" she asks skeptically.

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"Why not?" Jackie answers defiantly.

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Donna gently confronts her little friend. "He practically gets jealous when Mr. Forman hugs you for too long, how is he going to handle you being several hours away with God knows who? What will you do when he misinterprets one of your late night study sessions as a date and revenge screws a flight attendant?" she challenges.

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Jackie's stomach drops. "I hadn't thought about that".

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Hyde struts into the living room with a full plate of food, sits on the couch next to Jackie and feeds her a bite of his bacon. "Good?"

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"Mmm" she nods.

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"You want to share my breakfast?" he offers.

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"No. I want to keep it all." she says, pulling the plate from his hands.

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"You're lucky you're cute." he warns before kissing her and retreating to the kitchen to get another plate of food for himself.

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"Who was that?" Donna asks, shocked by Hyde's mild and considerate behavior.

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"That guy? Oh, we just live together" Jackie shrugs.

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* * *

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That night in bed, Jackie can't sleep. In her head, she keeps hearing Donna's stern warning about Steven's irrational jealousy and vengeful screws. She knows all of this is probably true and that people don't drastically change—Steven himself told her that numerous times—but she can't help but feel that he has. Or hope, at least. Or maybe this was all lying there beneath the surface, just waiting to be excavated by the right woman?

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She flips over and looks at his face. She's loved this particular face for so long, she can't even imagine having to replace it with another. What other man would have Steven's soulful blue eyes or impish grin? Who else could have a cleft so adorable or his wild, curly mop? She wouldn't know how to love another face, because her heart is full with love for this one.

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Tempted to touch him, Jackie gently strokes the side of his strong jaw with the tips of her fingers.

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His eyes flutter open and a sleepy smile expands across his features.

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"I can't sleep." she pouts.

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He pulls her closer and yawns. "Are you going to keep me up yapping about this or are you trying to hump me?"

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She sighs. "The first one."

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He groans.

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"But if you listen, I'll promise to the second one afterwards." she says as she grabs his butt with both hands.

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He deliberates for a moment. "Fine."

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"Donna was asking me what we were going to do when I have to leave for college" she says quietly.

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Hyde sighs and lets his eyes roll back into his head. He knew this conversation was coming, and he knew they had to have it, but he was hoping that if they put it off long enough it the problem would miraculously go away on it's own. He wants her to stay, but of course he has no right to ask that of her, not after the last time.

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"Uh...what'd you tell her?" he wonders.

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"I told her I thought we'd try to stay together." she ventures, hoping to God he feels the same way.

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He breathes an internal sigh of relief. Even though he knows she loves him, there was still a small part of him that worried she might just be passing time with him or worse, trying to achieve some sort of closure by getting him out of her system once and for all. To know she still wants him, even with having college as a legitimate 'out' clause, warms his 'poor orphan boy' heart—as Forman likes to call it.

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"Steven-" she clears her throat, starting to get nervous from his lack of response. "What do you think?"

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He looks at her open, mismatched eyes, searching for hope and meaning in his, and for the first time ever he doesn't feel uncomfortable letting her in. Hell, he actually wants her to figure it all out just by looking at him, because it means he doesn't have to come up with the right words to say. He may be a wordsmith who can think on his feet when it comes to cutting someone down with a well-crafted burn, but he also has an uncanny knack of saying the absolute worst things at the worst time where Jackie is concerned. He's still kicking himself for telling her to 'Have a good trip' when he wanted desperately just to say the word 'stay'.

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Hyde wills himself to be honest with her and struggles to turn off his inner critic. He needs to force himself to do the exact opposite of everything he did before, because what he did before broke them both. "Whatever it takes, I uh...I want to be with you" he says, breathing a huge sigh of relief. That wasn't as hard as he thought it was going to be.

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Jackie's eyes smile before it even reaches her mouth. He wants her. She didn't have to ask twice and he didn't answer with 'I don't know' or 'whatever' or the dreaded 'Have a good trip'.

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"What does that mean?" she asks him, still holding his gaze.

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"I, um, I don't know" he responds, but then nervously adds "that wasn't me blowing you off, because I really don't know."

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She wraps her arms around his neck and runs her fingers through the curls at the nape of his neck. "I really don't know either" she smiles "and it's okay."

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For some reason, hearing her say this makes him feel pained and empty inside. For his entire life up until this point, he's shunned responsibility and commitment. He hasn't wanted it, and except for when he was with Jackie, it hasn't really wanted much to do with him either. But after hearing the uncertainty in her voice about their future together, he feels like he's just received a crushing blow. Irony is a harsh mistress.

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Noticing the discomforting expression on his face, she leans her forehead against his. "What do you want to do?" she asks quietly, almost afraid of the answer she may receive. She's not making any demands this time, but she thinks she at least deserves to know what he expects from her.

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"Honestly?" he says, his breath shaking as he struggles to overcome the dull ache throbbing through his system. "I want...don't leave me."

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His words tug sharply at her heart, as she knows how difficult they must have been for him to say, but she wasn't lying when she told him the old offer wasn't on the table anymore. She made that mistake too many times in the past, putting his needs before her own, and now realizes that by doing this she became a different woman, not the woman he fell in love with. Funny how the desperation to hang onto somebody you love can become the very thing that drives them away.

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Tears fill her eyes as she knows she can't tell him the words he wants to hear. She wonders for a moment if he felt the same way when she demanded something similar from him those many months ago. Was he really as indifferent as he let on, or didn't he not know how to express the ambiguous feelings he had churning inside? Either way, she isn't going to make the same mistake he did. She may not be able to say what he wants to hear, but she can show him how much he is loved. Maybe that will be enough for now.

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"Let's just-forget I said something" he suggests, trying to gloss over his embarrassment. She didn't answer right away, so the answer is obviously no, right? She should know instantly if she wants to be with him, it shouldn't require deliberation on her part. After all that they've meant and all that they still mean now to each other, she should know if she wants to be with him at this point.

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"I don't want to forget it, baby. I like that you want me to stay. Actually, I love it. And I love you." she proclaims through her tears, "but I have to do this for myself."

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"Yeah, I get it. 'I choose me'," he balks, rolling his eyes. "You always choose you." he erupts with a hint of venom. He tries to look at her with a mixture of indifference and irritation, but he doesn't have the heart to muster it. He can feel his control slipping away from him and he doesn't know how to stop himself from ruining everything they've built together over the past few months. He always thought that he and Jackie always fell apart in a clutch for some reason, and now he is acutely aware that the 'reason' they fell apart in the past was him.

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Jackie's eyes grow wide as fear grips her. She can't lose him like this again, but she can't just give into whatever his demands are like she always used to. "Don't do that" she snaps. "I'm not letting you pull that crap this time," she says firmly. "I know you're hurt and that you wanted me to fall into your arms and promise to stay in Point Place with you forever, but I can't do it. It has absolutely nothing to do with how I feel about you. There's nobody in this world I would give up college for at this point, and if you love me as much as I love you, you'll want me to have this," she continues, "and you'll do whatever it takes to keep me here." she whispers, pressing her small hand over his heart.

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He nods as he starts to take down the straps on her tank top. She watches him curiously, as he slowly pulls the material down to her waist, exposing her breasts to the cold night air and his warm gaze. He gingerly places his hand over her heart, sending goosebumps exploding all over her body.

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"Just tell me what I have to do to stay here." he pleads, his eyes unable to meet hers. This is uncharted waters for him, and he's beyond petrified he's going to screw everything up with them like he always does.

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"Just be patient and love me." she says, smiling at his sudden bashfulness.

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He looks up into her face with piercing blue eyes "I do love you, Jackie and I'll work on the other thing".

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With that, he roughly pulls her in for a searing kiss. His need for her is raw and he frantically devours any part of her he can touch. She lifts his shirt over his head, tearing at it with such ferity that she scratches the skin on his back.

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"I'm sorry." she breathes running her hand over his tiny cuts.

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"Shut up, Jackie" he says playfully as he leans his body into hers hard, nearly robbing her lungs of all their oxygen.

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He yanks her pajama pants down and makes quick work of her undergarments, leaving her totally exposed, waiting for him eagerly on the bed. He climbs over her and stands next to the bed, hungrily eyeing the curves of her body in the moonlight.

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Out of breath, she reaches out for him but he's too far. He grabs her thighs and pulls her sharply towards him.

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"Take your pants off" she demands.

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"You take them off" he orders with a smirk.

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"Why are you making me work so hard to get you naked?" she grumbles adorably as she slowly eases his boxer shorts down, freeing his erection from it's fabric cage.

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He leans over and kisses her like a sailor on leave, knowing that every moment they have left together is borrowed time, then pushes her back onto the bed, lowers himself to his knees and places a kiss on his favorite body part.

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She moans upon contact. "Oh God" she hums as she bucks her hips forward to meet his talented mouth. Jackie's thighs close around his head like a cocoon and he slides his hands underneath her ass to lift her higher. Her hands fall into his curls and she allows herself let go, giving him permission to take her on the exquisite journey of his choosing.

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She gasps loudly and her breathing becomes labored as he works her into a frenzy with his mouth. Just as she feels her release beginning to rise in her core he pulls away, leaving her cold and aching for more.

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"What the hell?" she asks angrily, bleary-eyed from want as she sees him stand up and position himself in-between her legs.

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Without a word, he pulls her thighs towards him and savagely thrusts into her, bringing himself deeper with each pump.

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"Jesus Christ!" she calls out, not knowing where to put her limbs as they scramble for purchase. He pulls her ankles up around his ears and then crosses them over his chest, creating a tighter barrier to entry. Already on the edge, he slams into her, pushing her over the cliff almost immediately with a throaty moan.

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As her muscles clench hard around him, he closes his eyes and tries to remember every detail about this feeling. Her eyes are soft and closed, mouth slightly parted as if waiting to say something important, her body slick with sweat and essence as her body becomes rigid.

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He commits it to memory, like a snapshot, because even with all the other times they've been together, the one thing that always tortured him most during her extended absence from his life was that he couldn't remember the details. He knew she was beautiful and that she felt warm and tasted sweet, but the actual details—the angle of her pelvis as he took her, the erotic dance her breasts performed each time he impaled her hard, the way she always grabbed handfuls of the bed sheets while she climaxed—those things were all a blur.

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Now she's writhing underneath him and they're fresh as rain, and he feels he needs to catalog it all, because he knows he won't be able to bear her leaving him again without having them burned into his memory this time. And he's damn sure she'll leave him, because honestly, why wouldn't she when everybody else has?

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Jackie whimpers and closes her legs tightly around his waist as Hyde empties himself into her and collapses on top of her. "I sure am glad I moved in, baby" he exhales into her neck.

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Out of breath and dizzy from lust, she holds her lover's head to her chest and strokes his hair. "Can you hear my heart beating?" she asks with a wry smile. "You live there too".

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**A/N – One more chapter to go and probably an epilogue, so this is wrapping up! What did you think of this chapter? Let me know by reviewing it!**


	20. Chapter 20

**This is it! I really cannot thank you all enough for coming along on the ride with me. I hope you really like this ending, it just felt right to me. It's T rated (hopefully standing for terrific and not tedious).**

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**Also, to those of you who have left reviews and set this story as a 'favorite': You are awesome! You have no idea how much your reviews mean. Even though the story is (nearly) done, I still enjoy hearing what you think of it. So - if you're reading this now and you have a few moments to let me know what you thought, please review :)**

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**CHAPTER 20**

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Three quarters of the way into Eirc and Donna's wedding the bride and groom are three sheets to the wind. Twirling in a circle to admire her own dress, Donna careens towards the wall, narrowly missing her tiny maid of honor.

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"Jackie, everybody has been asking me for your number tonight" Donna squeals.

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"Aww. did you break it to them that I'm seeing somebody?" Jackie asks, pretending to be touched.

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"To hire you! People love this dress. I love this dress!" she shrieks drunkenly.

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"I do have to pat myself on the back for this one. I mean, I wasn't sure I could make you look feminine, but I totally pulled it off. Yay me!" she cheers, then immediately notices Donna's angered expression.

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"Of course, the dress only works because the bride is so beautiful. I mean, you're the only one who could really pull it off" she forces a smile, hoping she's laid it on thick enough to have assuaged her tall friend. Jackie knows more than anybody that a drunken bride is only one rung lower on the terror ladder than a rogue elephant, and they shut down whole villages for those. "Did I mention you're glowing?"

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"I can't believe you're actually leaving tomorrow" Donna pouts, her mood swinging wildly toward the morose. There was a time when she may have taken the little midget for granted, but now she's painfully aware of how much she's going to feel Jackie's absence and she finds she is genuinely saddened to lose the company of her old friend. "Is Hyde driving you?" she wonders.

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The little pixie shakes her head no. "He offered, but I'd rather take the bus. If he drives, I'll probably refuse get out of the car" she smiles sadly.

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In a moment of lucidity, the newly dyed redhead pulls the tiny brunette into a warm hug. "Hey. I know I wasn't very encouraging before, but I really do think you guys are good together. As unlikely and bizarre as your love is for each other, I can see you going the distance," she tells her as she plants a kiss on her cheek.

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"You really think we'll make it?" she wonders hopefully.

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"Who knows? Maybe I'll be handing out the programs at your wedding next year" she winks.

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A tipsy Eric finishes chicken dancing with Fez and stumbles over toward his bride.

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"I think Eric might be interested in twitching next to you during the next song" Jackie says as she weakly points to Donna's new husband while he 'dances' toward them 'seductively'.

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"May I have this dance, m'lady?" he asks as he bows in her direction.

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Donna giggles and bows back to him. "But of course, m'hubby."

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Jackie's face mirrors her repulsion as she bites back a killer burn. Behind her, she feels two strong arms envelop her waist and a familiar warm body press against her firmly.

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"I know how hard that was for you" he laughs hotly into her ear, sending a shock of heat directly to her loins.

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She leans back into Hyde's embrace. "No, you really don't. Eric was chicken dancing and then he called her m'lady, then she said m'hubby and then they bowed at each other like those freaks who work at the Renaissance fair! It was a perfect storm of wrongness" she shudders, burying her face into the side of his neck.

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"Let's get out of here" he suggests, now gripping her hips.

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The customary tingling starts to form in the base of her stomach as she feels him harden against her.

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"Steven! We're in public!" she snaps, both embarrassed and aroused at the same time.

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"Things are going to get X-rated here in a minute" he whispers, which only makes the tingling inside of her body increase. "Come on baby doll" he growls into the crook of her neck, knowing her weakness for having this spot tended to. "This suit doesn't have a lot of give" he complains.

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She giggles then turns to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Poor puddin' pop. Somebody should really help you out of those tight pants" she purses her lips seductively.

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He hovers his lips above hers without touching. "Are you that special somebody?"

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She licks her lips. "I could be, if you'd maybe..."

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He rolls his eyes and groans, kicking himself for not anticipating one of her unreasonable conditions. He sighs. "Go on" he encourages warily with heavy-lids.

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She closes her eyes and waits for the music to change, then smiles as the DJ plays the song "Alison".

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Hyde's expression becomes tender as he watches his girl sway back and forth in time to the music with her eyes closed. In every situation, she somehow manages to feel things more deeply than anybody else around her. She's as electric as a third rail and he can't help but venture a little too close to the tracks, regardless of the personal danger he faces. The risk is worth it, he decides. For her, it's worth it.

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He grabs her hand and leads her out to the dance floor. He can feel her smile warming him from behind, and there's no feeling greater to him than making her happy. If there's one thing he's realized over the past few months it's that when she's happy, it makes him happy. As the old saying goes, happy wife, happy life. Wait-did he just say wife?

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Jackie tucks one arm under Hyde's and wraps it around his back, the other she rests in his strong hand. She buries her face into his chest and breathes deeply. God she's going to miss his smell. She wonders briefly how long his scent will stay on the t-shirts she plans to steal from him to take to Chicago with her.

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He pulls his face close to hers and feels her soft skin against his scruff. "You finally got to dance to this."

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"I did" she smiles against his cheek. "I'm having fun, but it's kind of anticlimactic after having you serenade me with it."

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"I never serenaded you" he claims, making a disgusted face.

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"What is it called then when a man sings a love song while playing an instrument to woo the woman he cherishes above all others?" she persists.

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"I'm allergic to 70% of the words that just came out of your mouth right now" he grumbles as she laughs heartily at his discomfort.

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Brooke quickly walks over to the couple and tries to hide behind Jackie.

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"You realize Jackie's no good for hiding anything besides a small dog, right?" he asks Brooke. "Who are you trying to shake?"

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The statuesque beauty steps over to hide behind Hyde. "My husband" she whispers aggressively.

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"What did that dipshit do now?" he asks, surveying the room.

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Brooke shakes her head in horror, unable to speak.

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Jackie has an epiphany. "Oh God Brooke, he's not trying to dance with you, is he?"

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The librarian looks up with frightened eyes and hisses "Yessss. He's waiting for a fast song!"

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"Steven, we have to help her!" the ex-cheerleader decides immediately.

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"Where is he now?" he squints, trying to find his friend.

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Just then, the music changes and (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon comes on the speakers.

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_Our life together is so precious together_

_We have grown, we have grown_

_Although our love is still special_

_Let's take a chance and fly away somewhere alone _

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Kelso emerges seemingly from nowhere onto the dance floor and spots Brooke immediately, who audibly groans and reluctantly takes his hand.

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_It's been too long since we took the time_

_No-one's to blame, __I know time flies so quickly_

_But when I see you darling_

_It's like we both are falling in love again_

_It'll be just like starting over, starting over_

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The dance floor clears as people try to get out of the way of Kelso and his flailing limbs. Brooke, who has had her toes stepped on repeatedly, is practically in tears, while her husband is under the impression that the floor has cleared due to his dancing prowess and he amps up his performance to play to the crowd.

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"I can't watch" Jackie gasps, burying her face into Hyde's palm.

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"How can you _not _watch? It's like a car accident on the wrong side of the road in slow motion. And in reverse!" Eric utters, mystified.

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"Somebody should do something!" Donna decides, her eyes watering from laughing.

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"What?" Hyde grimaces.

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"What indeed." Eric seconds.

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"I'll do something!" Fez offers bravely.

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"No, you can't, Fezzy. It's too risky. You could lose an eye or have your toe broken!" Jackie pleads with the tan foreigner.

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"I could never leave a beautiful woman in danger, so I'm going to dance" Fez adopts his 'stallion' face.

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Jackie panics. "But Fez-"

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"I said dance!" he screams, holding his hand up to block her as he expertly boogies onto the dance floor.

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_Everyday we used to make it love_

_Why can't we be making love nice and easy_

_It's time to spread our wings and fly_

_Don't let another day go by my love_

_It'll be just like starting over, starting over _

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Fez dances over to a relieved-looking Brooke and asks Kelso if he can cut in. Michael agrees, and Fez elegantly spins Brooke around the dance floor until she is back in the safe confines of her friend's arms.

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"Oh thank God!" Jackie blurts as she wraps her arms around the older girl.

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"Holy crap. He's going back in" Donna remarks, amazed.

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"That is one brave bastard" Eric says as he tries to repress a sniffle.

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_Why don't we take off alone_

_Take a trip somewhere far, far away_

_We'll be together all alone again_

_Like we used to in the early days_

_Well, well, well darling_.

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Fez approaches Kelso, and soon the two men are vigorously dancing together, having the time of their lives.

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"Should this concern me?" Brooke wonders aloud.

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"Probably" Hyde says as he draws Jackie closer.

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Donna finally snaps. "That's it! I'm going Bridezilla on those two motherfuckers!"

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Jackie mouths the words 'rogue elephant' to the rest of the gang and they give Donna a wide berth.

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Suddenly, the music cuts out and a record is thrown to the floor with a crash. Donna grabs the DJ mic and announces "It's time to throw the bouquet".

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Jackie is visibly uncomfortable at the mention of the bouquet and tries desperately not to make eye contact with Hyde.

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"Jackie, aren't you going over there?" Brooke wonders, knowing how much her little friend likes both marriage and flowers.

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"No, I'm cool" she responds, nonchalantly, garnering looks from her best friend and boyfriend.

.

"You can't let Laurie catch it" the tall girl says snidely as she eyes Eric's sister, who is currently an inebriated mess and is hitting on Kelso.

.

"Laurie's so drunk she couldn't catch a cold" Hyde cracks. "I can't believe you'd turn down an opportunity to increase your odds of getting hitched" he turns to his doll.

.

She pulls Hyde off to the side feeling slightly hurt. "I don't need it, okay? I mean, I do still want to get married one day and have a family, but I don't need you to prove that you love me with a ring. I know."

.

He cradles her face in both of his hands and then kisses her. "Come on. Let's get out of here, okay?"

.

Jackie nods as Hyde scoops her up and runs out of the wedding hall with her in his arms.

.

Watching this commotion, Kitty and Red exchange knowing looks. "I told you it was just like fishing" he smiles as his wife kisses his cheek.

.

* * *

.

The next afernoon, the El Camino speeds into the parking lot of the bus depot and the motor cuts out.

.

Jackie sits in the passenger's seat, motionless, staring at the floor.

.

"So..." he says tensely.

.

"So..." she breathes hard.

.

Hyde leans over and grabs her hand. "Come on baby, your bus leaves in 20 minutes" he prods. "It's not going to get any easier if we drag it out."

.

She sniffles a bit and then nods in agreement. "You're right, but I'm not getting out of the car.'

.

"What if I bribed you?" he offers.

.

She smiles and looks a him adoringly. "You came prepared, didn't you?"

.

"I figured you'd dig your heels in at some point" he says.

.

"You bought me shoes?" she asks with hopeful eyes.

.

"No. I have something better for you" he announces, holding a large padded envelop aloft.

.

"Ooh, is it a present?" she chirps excitedly.

.

He chuckles for a moment at her enthusiasm and then nods. "Yeah, it's a present."

.

"Can I wear it?" she asks, pushing for more details.

.

"Sure, I'd like to see you in it" he says somewhat seriously.

.

"But it's not shoes...is it shiny? Ooh Steven, is it earrings?" she squeals, practically vibrating with excitement.

.

"This isn't 20 Questions, doll" he smirks.

.

"If I remember correctly, we never did finish my game of 20 Questions" she says petulantly as she runs her fingers down the valley of his chest until she hits the waistband of is jeans. "I think you owe me one" she smiles, batting her eyes at him. "I quite liked the physical attention you gave me while we were doing that game."

.

"I think you just liked the game because it was all about you" he opines while running his finger down the valley of her chest in echo.

.

"That too" she grins.

.

A bell chimes to alarm riders that the bus will be departing in 10 minutes.

.

Jackie looks up at her Puddin' Pop with sad eyes and pouts. "I don't want to leave you."

.

"I know" he responds softly as he brings her into his chest.

.

He nervously presses the large envelope into her hands, wrapping his own around hers to make sure she has a good grip on it. "Now remember, don't open this until you get to Chicago, okay?"

.

She nods.

.

"Promise?" he confirms.

.

"I promise" she says as the word catches in her throat. "I love you, Steven. I'm going to miss you like crazy," she sniffs as tears start to flow generously from her eyes.

.

He smooths her hair down and kisses the top of her head. "I love you too, kiddo" he whispers.

.

She looks up at him expectantly.

.

A smile breaks. "And I'll miss you too" he sighs. God, what a pain in the ass she is.

.

She kisses him slowly and passionately, trying to get enough affection to make it last for the whole ride.

.

"I think I should board now. It's kind of torture being out here with you and I mean that in the kindest possible way" she confesses.

.

He leans to kiss her again. "I know".

.

"See you on the flip side" she jokes as she heads toward the bus.

.

"Yes you will, baby" he smiles to himself as he waves her off.

.

* * *

.

Jackie takes her seat on the bus and watches Hyde walk slowly towards the parking lot. She then immediately turns her attention to the padded envelope in her hands and rips open the top.

.

"As if I could wait three hours" she scoffs, wondering what the point was of Hyde's stupid rule.

.

The first thing she pulls out is an envelope that says** "Open Me First"**. Her brow crinkles and she laughs a bit at this. Steven knows how much she loved "Alice in Wonderland" as a kid.

.

She tears into the envelope and pulls out a crumpled sheet of notebook paper inside. On it are the 20 Questions that Hyde jotted down to ask her on that fateful Christmas. She smiles fondly as her eye is drawn to #2, which asks to know what her guilty pleasure band is. Her skin grows hot again at the memory of how that Clash shirt really got him going.

.

Jackie skips down to #10 and is relieved she can finally admit that her answer is Steven Hyde without the shame that would have accompanied that response six months ago. She hopes to God he finally realizes it too.

.

As her finger skims down the page, she notices that #20 was never filled in. They only made it as far as #19, but she figured he had at least thought of a question to ask her.

.

A bit miffed, she pulls out the second envelope that says **"Open Me Next"** and she feels like a school girl all over again, having a cute boy slip a love note into her locker.

.

With one swipe, she opens the letter and then pulls out the white cardstock inside. As she unfolds it, she's astonished to find question #20 written in Steven's messy handwriting on the inside.

.

"_**Question #20 – Will you marry me?"**_

.

Jackie's breath hitches as she slides her hand inside of the envelope one last time, only to pull out a black ring box with the words **"Open Me Last"** written on top.

.

Tears fills her eyes as she stuffs it all back into the big envelope, grabs her bag and screams "I'm getting off!" just as the bus driver is about to shut the door.

.

Jackie runs as fast as she can toward the parking lot, praying that she hasn't gotten there too late.

.

As she rounds the corner, she finds her boyfriend, leaning casually against his beloved El Camino, smirking away as smug as ever.

.

Realizing she's been set up, Jackie drops her bags and delivers a flying kick to Hyde's right shin.

.

"Ouch! Jesus Jackie!" he growls as he leans over to rub his leg.

.

"Steven J. Hyde, you are a jerk! You set me up! You _knew_ I couldn't wait until Chicago to open that envelope!" she hisses.

.

"Well, yeah. I mean, you are Jackie Freakin' Burkhart" he mocks.

.

"Well if you think I'm going to be proposed to on a public bus, with the groom not even present, and without even one stupid flower..." she groans, suddenly cut off as Hyde leans into the window of his car and presents her with a bunch of red roses.

.

She tries to stay mad, but even she can't manage to resist all of this. She takes the flowers from him and smells them. "They're beautiful. Am I that predictable?"

.

Hyde shrugs. "I prefer you that way" he says as he pulls the ring out of the envelope and gives her a serious look. "I know I'm a pain in the ass, but you are too, and I really don't think it's fair for us to, you know, inflict our madness on anyone else in the general population - so it would kind of be a public service for us to, um, get married. Or whatever."

.

She shoots him a withering look.

.

He continues, trying a different tactic. "Jackie, you're the best person I know and also the most infuriating, but you make me happy."

.

She looks astonished.

.

"Yeah, I was surprised too" he says. "Most of all though, I love you doll, and just so you know, I _do_ see a future with you. In fact, I really don't see me having one without you."

.

Overwhelmed by his words, Jackie is crying now. "If you think, for one second, that I'm letting you come anywhere near me with that ring until you get down on one knee, you are sorely mistaken, mister!" she warns.

.

Hyde rolls his eyes, grabs her left hand and sinks down onto one knee. "Jacqueline _Beulah_ Burkhart, will you marry me?" he asks as he slips the ring onto her finger.

.

She pretends to deliberate for a moment then screams "Yes!" and leaps into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and peppering his face with fevered kisses.

.

He holds her chin steady and kisses her sweetly, over and over again until their lips are swollen and chapped.

.

"What am I going to do about school?" she frets. "I missed my last bus. And now that you've finally given me something shiny it's going to be even harder for me to leave you."

.

Hyde opens the door to his Camino and ushers her inside. "I'm gonna drive you to Chicago".

.

She looks at his excitedly "You are?"

.

He nods. "And I'm also staying there with you, at least for half of each week. I called Angie and she's agreed to help me out part-time until you finish school."

.

Jackie is silent for a moment, other than the sound of her tears hitting her pink plastic makeup case.

.

Hyde brushes her tears aside with his thumb and holds her hand. "What's wrong?"

.

She shakes her head. "I'm just so happy! I really never thought I'd be happy again after...you know."

.

"Me too" he says as he kisses her hand and shifts the Camino into drive.

.

As Hyde pulls out onto the highway with Jackie by his side, he realizes that she may be right about some people being like magnets crashing into one another. Perhaps they are polar opposites who can't stay away from each other - - -and so what if he's the negative to her positive charge? Together they make a pair and it works. Why question it?

.

THE END!

.

**A/N -Whew! I'm Done! **

**Epilogue coming next! Was the end everything you hoped it would be? Did this zenfic satisfy your J/H itch? Please let me know by leaving a REVIEW! Thanks again for all of your support.**


	21. EPILOGUE

**It's not super long, but I hope it gives you all the closure that season 8 never did! Thanks for all of your support while writing this. I really had a blast!**

**BTW-some parts of this chapter rated M for sMut. (You'll know it when you get there).**

**.**

**EPILOGUE**

**.**

**(3 Years Later)**

.

It's Jackie and Hyde's wedding day and the bride is already 15 minutes late, which surprises absolutely no one. The last few stragglers have made their way into the church and Donna, now heavily pregnant, hands them each a program.

.

"Bride or Groom?" she asks Fenton, the very last guest to arrive.

.

"Oh my God, you are giving me a 'Sophie's Choice', aren't you?" he giggles. "I mean, Jackie's fabulous, dresses better than Madonna and is a massive bitch, which you know I love...but Hyde is dreamy in that bad boy way, and I do like me a bit of the ol' rough trade, if you know what I mean? UGH! Who to choose, who to choose...?" Fenton mutters conspiratorially to himself.

.

The redhead looks at him with bemusement. "I'm just asking you which side of the church you'd like to sit on. Bride or groom?"

.

Fenton's face drops into a haughty scowl. "I knew that."

.

"Just sit on the left" she says as she hands him a program and shoves him in the direction of Hyde's side of the church.

.

She shuts the front doors, leaves the rest of the programs in a pile on a side table, and heads back toward the bridal suite.

.

Mitch tries to give Donna a sexy wave as she passes by and disturbingly, doesn't seem remotely deterred by her ginormous belly. She waves back uneasily and then passes the groomsmen.

.

"Word on the street is that the Best Man gets to nail the hottest bridesmaid here" Eric brags. "Oh wait! I already did" he gloats as he rubs his wife's belly.

.

"Honey, focus! Who is on Kelso duty? I saw him wandering outside five minutes ago and I'm concerned he may have gotten his hands on some matches" she informs him with grave concern.

.

"I'm on it" he says as he kisses his wife and exits through the side door.

.

Just as Donna reaches the bridal suite, Fez emerges looking battle scarred.

.

"Is she ready?" she asks her foreign friend.

.

"Um, I've been ready since 1978!" Jackie screams from behind the door.

.

Fez shakes his head in disbelief. "Terrifying. I wouldn't feel right allowing a pregnant woman to enter" he blocks the doorway with his arm.

.

"I'll be fine. I used to live with her, remember?" she tells him.

.

"Yeah, so did I. In my country, she would have been thrown to the wolves by now" he claims.

.

"They throw people to wolves in your country?" she questions, completely shocked.

.

"Not really, but for her they'd make an exception" he responds as he edges away from the door. "I would recommend a light sedative, if you have one."

.

"Do you think she'll take it?" Donna asks.

.

"I meant for you" he says sadly as he walks away muttering in his native tongue.

.

Donna takes a deep breath and opens the door.

.

* * *

.

"Ugh! I can't believe how fat the two of you bitches have gotten!" Jackie whines as she gives Donna the once over. "I practically ran out of material making your dresses."

.

"Jackie, we're pregnant" Brooke, also in her third trimester, scolds the bride.

.

"I mean, I wanted you two Amazons to make me look tiny, but now I'm not sure the photographer will be able to fit all three of us in the frame" she huffs. "I guess we can forget about a shot of the entire bridal party" she whines.

.

Donna walks over to the 'blushing bride' and spins the girl around to face her. "Oh my God!"

.

Jackie freaks out. "What? What's wrong with me?" She feels up and down her face and dress for something awry. Her dress is modern and chic yet still firmly traditional - made of heavy bridal silk draped artfully into a bustle at the back with a wink of silk tuille peeking out from underneath the folds and a bold lavender sash tied perfectly into a long bow around her waist. On her head rests a delicate, glimmering tiara.

.

"Nothing's wrong, you just look so beautiful!" she says, sighing.

.

The bride smiles tightly. "I'd better. Fez spent two hours today working on my hair" she says with an undercurrent of hostility.

.

Donna purses her lips and tries to get her wild-eyed friend to meet her gaze. "What's bothering you?"

.

"Nothing! This is the happiest day of my life!" she growls manically.

.

"She's been like this all morning. I thought maybe when her mom got here she'd calm down..." Brooke explains.

.

"Oh, well there was your first mistake" she nods. "Is Pam even here?"

.

"She showed up drunk and already has your dad cornered against a pew" Jackie sneers.

.

"Ew" Donna responds glumly and pets her stomach.

.

"Is...um...is Steven here yet?" the little one asks nonchalantly.

.

"Oh honey, is that what's bothering you? You're worried he's not going to show?" she asks her ex-roommate. "He's not as dumb as Eric."

.

Jackie shrugs sullenly.

.

Donna wraps an arm around her tiny friend's waist and pulls her as close as her belly will allow. "He's been waiting to marry you since 1979. That ring was sitting in a box under his bed for years before he finally put it on your finger, so please don't worry. He's dying to marry you." she assures her.

.

"I'm scared" she says in a small voice. "What if we end up like my parents? Or his parents? Or your parents" she points to Donna. "Or your parents?" she points to Brooke. "Oh my God, I can't do this!" she starts to get dizzy.

.

Brooke walks over and pinches Jackie hard on the thigh.

.

"Ouch! What'd you do that for, fat ass?" she yells at the librarian.

.

"To wake you up. Look, your parents didn't marry for love, Jackie. Hyde's parents are alcoholics, Donna's parents were married way too young because her mom got knocked up, and my dad is a total asshole" she explains, laying it all there for her. "I married for love, and I'm happy. Same with Donna. If you're getting married for the right reasons, and you're willing to work as hard at your marriage as you do at everything else, you and Hyde will be together forever" she smiles.

.

Donna starts crying and dabs at her eyes with a handkerchief. "That was beautiful, Brooke."

.

Brooke responds by tearing up as well. "Thank you."

.

"Jesus, you two are hormonal." Jackie takes a deep breath and smiles. "Look, I'd hug you both but I don't want to get your estrogen all over my dress."

.

"Are you ready to get married now, midget?" Donna asks as she pulls the veil over Jackie's face.

.

"Do you promise neither of you is going to go into labor during my wedding? I don't want to be upstaged today" she warns.

.

Donna sighs. "Not that I have any control over it, but fine."

.

Brooke laughs. "I will lock my knees if you promise to leave this room immediately" she says as she opens the door.

.

"You have a deal then" Jackie smiles and walks through the doorway.

.

Brooke and Donna exchange relieved glances.

.

* * *

.

"Hey there, hi there, ho there to the three most beautiful ladies in Point Place" Bob gushes. "I just can't believe our little Jackie has finally grown up and is getting married. And that you actually want_ me_ to walk you..." he waves them away with his hand as he can't continue on through his violent crying.

.

"Oh brother" Donna mutters under her breath. "Daddy? Daddy, you have the whole day to cry, just give us five minutes of no crying and you're home free. Do you think you can handle that?"

.

Bob places his hand over his mouth and nods.

.

"He better not upstage me, Donna" Jackie pouts.

.

The music starts and Betsy, wearing a lavender dress is the first down the aisle, tossing lavender-colored rose petals with expertise. A far cry from her first endeavor as a flower girl at her parents' wedding.

.

She is followed by her mother, resplendent in a plum maternity style dress, and then Donna, who glows in a deep purple frock.

.

The music changes and Jackie and Bob emerge to the instrumental strains of the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" as played by a string quartet.

.

Hyde perks up at the odd music choice and laughs out loud, fully confident that any woman who would choose to walk down the aisle to The Clash, is the kind of woman he could stay with for life.

.

As he watches Jackie approach, he nearly stops breathing. He thought she looked beautiful all those years before at Halverson's Department Store, but this blows that memory way out of the water.

.

Jackie locks eyes with Hyde and beams a wide smile as she sashays down the aisle on Bob's arm. This has been her dream for as long as she can remember, but the reality of it is so different from what she expected. She thought she was going to be anxious about the flowers and the cake, but at the end of the day, the only thing that seems to concern her is whether or not she's going to make a good wife.

.

As the aisle transitions into the bridal canopy area and Bob places Jackie's hand in Steven's, an overwhelming sense of peace and happiness overtakes them both. Between the two of them, they may not have much family, but together they have all the family they need.

.

The vows go smoothly and surprisingly the ceremony is completed without a hitch. As Pastor Dave concludes the service and pronounces them legally wed, Hyde lays a kiss on Jackie that is so intense it gives Fez and everybody else witnessing it 'needs'.

.

"Jesus is watching" Kitty hisses at them nervously to break it up.

.

Before the guests can descend on the couple, Hyde announces "We'll be right back!" He drags Jackie by the hand, pulls her into the bridal suite and locks the door. "I don't feel like sitting through five champagne toasts and a chicken dance before I get to put my hands on my wife" he smirks as he unties his lavender bow-tie.

.

* * *

.

Jackie flings herself at her husband and kisses him all over. "I have to warn you, this dress is impossible to get in and out of."

.

"Then leave it on" he says as he waggles his eyebrows at her. "When else am I going to have the chance to bang a bride in her wedding dress?"

.

"You've already had two chances, you silver-tongued beast" she jokes as he gives her a stern look.

.

"The first wedding didn't count and a bridal stripper costume isn't a wedding dress. And now that we're married, you're not allowed to ever mention Vegas again. As far as I'm concerned, you're the first and only Mrs. Hyde out there—unless you count Edna, which I definitely do not" he rolls his eyes.

.

Jackie smiles playfully. "Say it again."

.

He matches her smile. "What? Edna?" he teases.

.

"No..." she pouts as she props herself up onto a table and puts one foot on his chest, revealing her garter belt.

.

"Fuck, Jackie" he looks down with approval. "Umm...what could it be? Do you want me to say Vegas?"

.

"Definitely do_ not_ say Vegas" she sniffs as she rests her other leg on his shoulder.

.

"What could it be? What could it be? Hmm...you wouldn't be referring to me saying...Mrs. Hyde?" he raises an eyebrow.

.

She grabs his right hand and places it between her legs. "Bingo."

.

"Commando on your wedding day, Mrs. Hyde? Classy girl" he growls in a low voice as he unbuckles his pants.

.

"Well, you know, the Burkharts are one of the best families in the city" she pretend brags as she reclines against the wall.

.

"What a coincidence. The Hydes are one of the worst families, and now you're one of us" he taunts as he slides two fingers into her wet core.

.

"Oh God" she squeals, almost on the edge before he's even touched her.

.

"This wedding stuff really turns you on, huh?" he wonders pumping his fingers in and out of her, eliciting soft moans of approval.

.

Unable to wait a moment longer, she grabs his lapels. "Forget the foreplay. In me. Now." She demands as she pulls his fingers out of her and puts one of them in her mouth.

.

"Shit, baby. Already ordering me around, huh?" he laughs.

.

She gives him a sharp look to let him know this isn't optional.

.

"Yes dear" he grabs her by the ass and slides into her slowly, causing both of them to gasp on contact.

.

"I love the way you feel inside of me" Jackie sighs into his mouth.

.

He grabs a fistful of hair and pulls her head back to expose her neck to his searing kisses as he slams into her hard, over and over again. "Yeah? You like that?"

.

She can feel herself getting close to the edge and slips her hands down the back of his pants to pull him in further so he can fill her completely. "...yeah" is all she can squeak out in her heightened condition.

.

"I love you Jackie" he pants as he continues his amorous assault on her.

.

"No, say the other thing again!" she whimpers as she wraps her legs tightly around his waist.

.

"Flowchart?" he taunts as he buries his face into her neck.

.

"Steeeven!" she yells angrily.

.

"Mrs. Hyde you are so fucking sexy" he breathes, overexcited by the events of the day and giddy with happiness. "I love you, Mrs. Hyde!"

.

"Oh...God" she whimpers as she feels her muscles tighten and she goes over the edge, her hands gripping his behind as she climaxes hard.

.

He inhales the scent of berries as his face is pressed into her hair and pounds away, over and over again until he releases inside of her and immediately dissolves into a heap surrounded by a cloud of silk tulle.

.

"I love you too, Puddin' Pop." she smiles lazily and kisses him on the forehead. "Hope getting married wasn't as horrible as you thought it would be" she says.

.

He shrugs. "It was no worse than bowling, I guess" he teases.

.

"Steven J. Hyde...!" she starts angrily, slapping his arm.

.

"Jacqueline Beulah Hyde, that is spousal abuse!" he mocks her back.

.

"Stop! Saying! Buelah!" she slaps his arm three more times.

.

There is a sharp knock at the door.

.

"Uh...if you two are done consummating this thing, you have about 100 guests waiting for you to get Jackie off so you can join the party. No pressure" Eric whispers uneasily from behind the door.

.

Hyde withdraws from her body and helps her straighten her dress out again.

.

She does up his bow tie and sighs. "This really is better than bowling, isn't it?"

.

* * *

.

As the newlyweds emerge from the suite holding hands to join the rest of the party on the lawn for cocktails, they are greeted by a large round of applause.

.

"They must have seen me in action" he muses.

.

"I think they're clapping for me, because I'm the prettiest bride they've ever seen" she gloats.

.

Kelso lumbers over to the couple with such excitement that he nearly trips over his own feet. "Okay. You know you made me swear not to surprise you at the wedding?" he asks Jackie.

.

Nervously she answers "Uh...you didn't, like, face-plant into our cake or light the gift table on fire, did you?"

.

"No, although I did shake all your presents and you guys are getting some sweet gifts" he nods appreciatively.

.

"Michael, what did you do? Out with it." she demands tersely.

.

"Damn Jackie!" he huffs. "I just brought you guys a present" he waves a signal to Fez and Eric and they begin carrying a large, sheet-covered object over to them.

.

"When I heard you weren't gonna have one of these I figured I needed to step in. I mean, what's a wedding without a trampoline?" he pulls the sheet off of the trampoline and gestures wildly to it.

.

Jackie starts laughing hysterically as she throws her arms around Kelso. "I am so glad I chose the scruffy one" she says, barely able to breathe. "But this is so sweet Michael, and I look forward to hours of watching you fall off and injure yourself."

.

Hyde grins. "Best. Wedding. Present. Ever."

.

Fez kicks off his shoes and jumps onto it before Kelso has a chance to go first.

.

"Uh!" Kelso shrieks as his best friend beats him to the toy.

.

"You snooze you lose, Kelso" Fez taunts while happily sucking on a cherry Dum-Dum as he jumps. "I'd invite you to join me, but I already have one Dum-Dum on here with me and there's no room for another. Ah BURN!"

.

"Nuh-uh that is so rude, Fez." Kelso tried unsuccessfully to push him off then opts for pulling the lollipop out of his mouth and throwing it on the floor. "Now there's room for another Dum-Dum" he says with self-satisfaction as he squeezes onto the trampoline next to his tanned friend, making it impossible for either of them to jump.

.

"I always wondered what they'd be like as grown-ups" Donna jokes.

.

"Yeah, well you can keep on wondering" Brooke complains as she buries her face into her hands in embarrassment.

.

Jackie tugs on Hyde's coat and brings him to the side of the lawn. "I know how much you love mushy talk, so I'm going to make this quick. I just wanted you to know that...I told you so."

.

"What?" he looks at her with utter confusion.

.

"After you went to jail for me, I told you we'd be more than friends and you told me to shut up. I was right and I think it's high time you admit it" she flips her hair in his direction.

.

He thinks about it for a moment. "Uh...no."

.

"We're not more than friends or you're not admitting it?" she asks.

.

"I admit nothing." he declares.

.

"Clearly we are more than friends, Steven" she insists, getting annoyed.

.

"Jackie, when you're really pissed off about something else entirely, THEN and only then will I admit that you are right about this. I gotta save up some stuff in my back pocket for a rainy day" he smirks.

.

"No. You can't do that!" she argues.

.

"Watch me!" he grins smugly in her face.

.

"Oh, that's mature" she snaps while rolling her eyes.

.

"But 'I told you so' is real grandma-level maturity shit though" he retorts.

.

Jackie pouts out her bottom lip and gives him her best puppy dog eyes.

.

He stares at her for a minute and everything else around him disappears. This maddening, crazy, beautiful girl has gotten her hooks into him and no amount of hoping or bargaining is ever going to change that fact. He gazes into her blue-green eyes and his resolve breaks, knowing he'll do just about anything he can to make her happy-even relent. "Fine. You were right."

.

Her face lights up with a broad smile and she throws her arms around her husband's neck. "I love being married to you" she coos into his chest.

.

As he rests his hand on the small of her back he realizes that his life as he knows it is now completely over. The funny thing is, he couldn't be happier about it.

.

THE END!

.

**A/N – Hope the epilogue was fun for you. I know it's a little sappy, but that's kind of how these things always end up, right? Thanks again for going through this with me and for all of your support and kind words! Hope you check out some of the other things I'm currently working on :)**


End file.
